Object-oriented domain specific compilers for programming FPGAs

Simplifying the programming models is paramount to the success of reconfigu rable computing with field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). This paper pre sents a methodology to combine true object-oriented design of the compiler/ CAD tool with an object-oriented hardware design methodology in C++. The re sulting system provides all the benefits of object-oriented design to the c ompiler/CAD tool designer and to the hardware designer/programmer. The two examples for domain-specific compilers presented are BSAT and StReAm, Each domain-specific compiler is targeted at a very specific application domain, such as applications that accelerate Boolean satisfiability problems with BSAT, and applications which lend themselves for implementation as a stream architecture with StReAm. The key benefit of the presented domain specific compilers is a reduction of design time by orders of magnitude while keepi ng the optimal performance of hand-designed circuits.