Agile Hardware Hangout

Screen Shot 2014-08-13 at 9.33.30 PMUPDATE: I’ve started an agile hardware hangout google group. I figured posting hangout links there would be better for keeping people posted on when/where we get a hangout started. Please join the group if you’re interested in this.

I often have a difficult time differentiating between good ideas and completely stupid ideas. I’ll admit to having had more stupid ideas than good ideas, also that I have no idea where this particular idea will end up. But in the name of friendly collaboration and pulling together the agile hardware community, I’ve decided I’m just going to go for it and see what happens.

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SVUnit v3.1 Released

Download the Latest Version of SVUnit from GitHubI just posted version 3.1 of SVUnit to GitHub. If you’ve been waiting patiently for me to get rid of the makefiles, the wait is over. From here on, we’ve got a simple command line script to run SVUnit unit tests with any of IUS, Questa, Modelsim, Riviera PRO and VCS.

The best place to start with version 3.1 is the README.txt in the release package. Pay attention to step 5 because that’s where everything changes (for the simpler and better). All the code in the release package, including the examples, has been updated to match the new scripts so there shouldn’t be anything misleading in there. Also exciting is that all the documentation has been removed (it was incredibly out-of-date and misleading to say the least). I still need to update the SVUnit on demand videos which I’ll do as soon as I can.

Lastly, here’s the usage for the new run script that I’ve been touching up over the past several weeks…

Screen Shot 2014-08-12 at 4.32.36 PMIf you spot anything that needs attention, I’d appreciate it if you could file a ticket. Touch-ups should be easy to turn around quickly. FYI… the next updates I’m considering are support for UVM1.2 and parameterized unit test classes as well as a few other things people have been asking for.

Thanks to those that gave feedback and helped get us to version 3.1!

-neil

 

 

Shame On Me (Why I Use Test-driven Development)

When I hear the word shame, there is only one thing that comes to mind: Slapshot. If you’re Canadian, chances are you already know what I’m talking about. To everyone else, Slapshot is a hockey movie and shame comes from an interview where Jim Carr is talking penalties with Denis Lemieux, goalie for the Charlestown Chiefs. Denis comes up with this to describe high-sticking, slashing, tripping, hooking and spearing… Continue reading