SystemC: From the Ground Up, Second Edition [Hardcover]

David C. Black (Author), Jack Donovan (Author), Bill Bunton (Author), Anna Keist (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 30, 2009 | ISBN-10: 0387699570 | ISBN-13: 978-0387699578 | Edition: 2nd Edition.

SystemC provides a robust set of extensions to the C++ language that enables rapid development of complex models of hardware and software systems. The authors focus on practical use of the language for modeling real systems, showing: A step-by-step build-up of syntax Code examples for each concept Over 8000 lines of downloadable code examples Updates to reflect the SystemC standard, IEEE 1666 Why features are as they are Many resource references How SystemC fits into an ESL methodology This new edition of an industry best seller is updated to reflect the standardization of SystemC as IEEE 1666 and other improvements that reflect feedback from readers of the first edition. The wide ranging feedback also include suggestions from editors of the Japanese and Korean language translations, professors and students, and computer engineers from a broad industrial and geographical spectrum, all who have successfully used the first edition. New chapters have been added on the SystemC Verification Library and the Transaction Level Modeling, and proposed changes to the current SystemC standard. David Black and Jack Donovan, well known consultants in the EDA industry, have teamed with Bill Bunton and Anna Keist, experienced SystemC modeling engineers, to write the second edition of this highly popular classic. As a team the authors bring over 100 years of ASIC and system design experience together to make a very readable introduction to SystemC.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...a welcome addition to the SystemC literature. Those new to SystemC will find it a very good introduction, and those who have already been exposed to SystemC will find it a useful reference. The style is straightforward and the extensive use of examples gives quick insight into using SystemC in real designs...." (John Sanguinetti, Ph.D., Chief Technical Officer, Forte Design Systems) "...your book helped me bridge the gap in my understanding of the SystemC scheduler and the language features with examples that are easy to follow. The discussion on a TLM approach is also very insightful." (Suhas Pai, QUALCOMM, Inc.) "...well written, and a much-needed overview of SystemC. I like that the book introduces features in context, and with enough code to help the reader understand, but without burying them in code. I found it remarkably easy to read." (Andy Meyer, Cadence Design Systems, Inc.) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From the Back Cover

SystemC provides a robust set of extensions to the C++ language that enables rapid development of complex models of hardware and software systems. The authors focus on practical use of the language for modeling real systems, showing: A step-by-step build-up of syntax Code examples for each concept Over 8000 lines of downloadable code examples Updates to reflect the SystemC standard, IEEE 1666 Why features are as they are Many resource references How SystemC fits into an ESL methodology This new edition of an industry best seller is updated to reflect the standardization of SystemC as IEEE 1666 and other improvements that reflect feedback from readers of the first edition. The wide ranging feedback also include suggestions from editors of the Japanese and Korean language translations, professors and students, and computer engineers from a broad industrial and geographical spectrum, all who have successfully used the first edition. New chapters have been added on the SystemC Verification Library and the Transaction Level Modeling, and proposed changes to the current SystemC standard. David Black and Jack Donovan, well known consultants in the EDA industry, have teamed with Bill Bunton and Anna Keist, experienced SystemC modeling engineers, to write the second edition of this highly popular classic. As a team the authors bring over 100 years of ASIC and system design experience together to make a very readable introduction to SystemC.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 361 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 2nd Edition. edition (December 30, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0387699570
• ISBN-13: 978-0387699578
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 9.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #905,091 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born on the East coast of England, David was whisked away to North Central Canada (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta) at the age of 9 months. After five years, his parents decided it was time to move South and ended up in Texas, where David spent most of his life.

Interested in science (physics) and math, David attended Rice University, where he quickly became attached to the then new field of Computer Science. He graduated with a double major in Electricl Engineering (BS) and Computer Science (BA). While studying digital electronics, David became fascinated with the idea of designing electronic hardware using software, which led to his involvement with EDA.

After graduation, David moved to Austin, Texas where he raised a family of three, and worked at a number of electronics firms. Slowly, but surely David increased his skills in applying software concepts to hardware problems and eventually entered the field of consulting and teaching. David became co-author of a book, SystemC: From the Ground Up while working with business partner Jack Donovan at his startup consulting firm, ESLX.

Presently, David works for Doulos America Inc, a services company that specializes in teaching engineers about hardware description languages (e.g. SystemVerilog and SystemC) for simulation and synthesis. He is also very involved with the Boy Scout Venturing program as an advisor to youth.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Complete but overly complicated, needs editing, March 28, 2005

By 

Ray Salemi (Framingham, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: SystemC: From the Ground Up (the Kluwer International Series in Engineering & Computer Science) (Hardcover)

This is a good book on SystemC, but it is not a good book for beginners. The book is overly complicated and provides levels of detail in its examples that are unnecessary to make the point or teach the subject.

For example, when discussing ports the book says the following:

DEFINITION: A SystemC interface is an abstract class that inherits from sc_interface and provides only pure virtual declarations of methods referenced by SystemC channels and ports. No implements or data are provided in a SystemC interface.

DEFINITION: A SystemC channel is a class that implements one or more SystemC interface classes and inherits from either sc_channel or sc_prim_channel. A channel implements all the methods of the inherited interface classes.

DEFINITION: A SystemC port is a class templated with and inheriting from a SystemC interface. Ports allow access of channels across module boundaries.

Huh?

This line of teaching led me into the bowels of SystemC and was unnecessary as a start. One can just say, "A port allows communication between blocks. Let's look at sc_in and sc_out to start".

I needed to get another book to recover from this instruction.

The examples in the book are generally OK and there is a website that has executable versions. Unfortunately, there needed to be more careful editing in the examples. The HelloWorld example has an obvious syntax error (an undeclared module is instantiated) and would never have run if it had been compiled.

I could not find the video mixer example that they used to teach ports on the web, and thus couldn't make progress.

Overall, this is a good book if you know SystemC and are interested in the details of how it is implemented. I would use it to learn the language, and it cannot act as a language reference guide.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars SystemC from a software perspective, January 17, 2007

By 

Lawrence Yeung (Fremont, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: SystemC: From the Ground Up (Paperback)

I have been working as an firmware engineer for many years. As a new advernture, I am involved in investigating various algorithm modeling technique which can provide a good performance for firmware development. Obvioously, SystemC is a good candidate because of its ability to do transaction level based modelling. The question is how to pick up the language. First I tried the technical reference manual and white papers provided by the official system C website. It is quite an eye-openning experience but I think I need more. So I went to Amazon to see what was avaliable. I came across this book and the "System C Primer" book. I bought both.

The major difference between these two books is in the author's perspective. The author in this book approaches from a software background. He visualizes the whole systemC environment as a multi-threaded kernel. To learn the language is to become familiar with the different "API's" and "system calls". It is great for engineers who come from a fw/sw background. However, for engineers coming from the hw background, this book does not spend much time covering the topic on how to write SystemC model that is close to the hardware implementation (RTL or gates). They will be disappointed if this is their goal. I would recommend them to try the other book.

After saying that, I believe the safest bet probably is to get both books so you can have a full spectrum of knowledge of what the language can do for you. Then you will not get stuck knowing only one aspect of the language and you can decide which "hat" to wear according to your need.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the best beginning SystemC book out there, October 10, 2005

By 

Verification Engineer (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: SystemC: From the Ground Up (the Kluwer International Series in Engineering & Computer Science) (Hardcover)

Before this book had come out, there were only a couple SystemC books available, and after reading them both, I still had no real grasp of how to write a basic program in SystemC. This book basically connected all the dots for me, and I was able to start writing a testbench in SystemC. For the best beginner's regimen, read this book cover-to-cover a couple times and get the "SystemC Golden Reference Guide" by Doulos for use as a syntax reference when you are actually writing your code.