Verilog Resources

This web site is dedicated to Verilog in particular, and to Verifying Logic in general.

Sad to report the inventor of Verilog has died: Phil Raymond Moorby April 25, 1953 - September 15, 2022

Of particular interest is the page of links to the IEEE Verilog Standardization Group's web pages, which is here.

Also of interests are a number of other verilog related resources which are available here; including an free editing mode for the verilog lanugage; links to various books that we have found useful in understanding verilog, and verification in general; links to tools that we have developed, use (and quite frankly that in our day job we sell).

What is Verilog?

(Ref. The Verilog FAQ, Author's experience)

Verilog HDL is a hardware description language used to design and document electronic systems. Verilog HDL allows designers to design at various levels of abstraction. It is the most widely used HDL with a user community of more than 50,000 active designers.

A brief history

Verilog HDL originated at Automated Integrated Design Systems (later renamed as Gateway Design Automation) in 1985. The company was privately held at that time by Dr. Prabhu Goel, the inventor of the PODEM test generation algorithm. Verilog HDL was designed by Phil Moorby, who was later to become the Chief Designer for Verilog-XL and the first Corporate Fellow at Cadence Design Systems. Gateway Design Automation grew rapidly with the success of Verilog-XL and was finally acquired by Cadence Design Systems, San Jose, CA in 1989.

Verilog was invented as simulation language. Use of Verilog for synthesis was a complete afterthought. Rumors abound that there were merger discussions between Gateway and Synopsys in the early days, where neither gave the other much chance of success..

In the late 1980's it seemed evident that designers were going to be moving away from proprietary languages like n dot, HiLo and Verilog towards the US Depatment of Defense standard H.D.L., known as the VHSIC Hardware Description Language. VHSIC it self stands for "Very High Speen Intergrated Circuit" BTW).

Perhaps due to such market pressure, Cadence Design Systems decided to open the Verilog language to the public in 1990, and thus OVI (Open Verilog International) was born. Until that time, Verilog HDL was a proprietary language, being the property of Cadence Design Systems. When OVI was formed in 1991, a number of small companies began working on Verilog simulators, including Chronologic Simulation, Frontline Design Automation, and others. The first of these came to market in 1992, and now there are mature Verilog simulators available from many sources.

As a result, the Verilog market has grown substantially. The market for Verilog related tools in 1994 was well over $75,000,000, making it the most commercially significant hardware description language on the market.

An IEEE working group was established in 1993 under the Design Automation Sub-Committee to produce the IEEE Verilog standard 1364. Verilog became IEEE Standard 1364 in 1995.

As an international standard, the Verilog market continued to grow. In 1998 the market for Verilog simulators alone was well over $150,000,000; continuing its dominance.

The IEEE working group released a revised standard in March of 2002, known as IEEE 1364-2001. Significant publication errors marred this release, and a revised version was released in 2003, known as IEEE 1364-2001 Revision C.

Subsequently, a new working group was formed, IEEE P1800, to build on the IEEE 1364 language along with additional contributions from Accellera. In mid 2004 the IEEE 1364 committee was disbanded, and maintenence on the standard was taken up by the IEEE 1800 working group.