Event-based simulation is a popular technique for predicting the behavior of, among other things, digital circuits. On the other hand, applicative denotational formalisms, in which circuits are represented by functional equations with an explicit time variable, are becoming popular for other reasoni...

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Bibliographic Details

Main Author:	Hall, Robert J. (Author)
Format:	Book
Language:	English
Published:	Cambridge, Mass. 1987
Series:	Artificial Intelligence Laboratory <Cambridge, Mass.>: A. I. Memo 966.
Subjects:	Abstracts Circuits Cybernetics Digital systems Equations Functional analysis Models Psychology Reasoning Semantics Tightness
Summary:	Event-based simulation is a popular technique for predicting the behavior of, among other things, digital circuits. On the other hand, applicative denotational formalisms, in which circuits are represented by functional equations with an explicit time variable, are becoming popular for other reasoning tasks. Before a system is to be use both approaches to modeling circuits, questions of semantic equivalence must be addressed. In particular, if two circuits are equivalent in one formalism, will they be equivalent in the other? What modeling restrictions are needed to bring this about? This paper shows that, provided circuits no zero-delay loops, a tight relationship, full abstraction, exists between a natural event-based operational semantics for circuits and a natural denotational semantics for circuits based on causal functions on value timelines. The paper also discusses what goes wrong if zero-delay loops are allowed, an illustrates the application of this semantic relationship to modeling questions.
Physical Description:	16 S.