ABSTRACT
This chapter presents state-of-the-art specification languages, tools, and methodologies for processor development in academia as well as industry. It describes processor modeling using architecture description languages (ADLs). The chapter also presents ADL-driven methodologies for software toolkit generation, hardware synthesis, exploration, and validation of programmable architectures. It outlines contemporary ADLs to compare their relative strengths and weaknesses in the context of processor modeling and ADL-driven design automation. Simulators are critical components of the exploration and software design toolkit for the system designer. There are many comprehensive ADL surveys available in the literature including ADLs for retargetable compilation, programmable embedded systems, and system-on-chip (SOC) design. Stringent time-to-market constraints for SOC designs no longer make it feasible to generate manually compilers tuned to particular architectures. The phrase ADL has been used in the context of designing both software and hardware architectures. Software ADLs are used for representing and analyzing software architectures.
