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-rw-r--r--manual/CHAPTER_Overview.tex21
1 files changed, 17 insertions, 4 deletions
diff --git a/manual/CHAPTER_Overview.tex b/manual/CHAPTER_Overview.tex
index ae5cf094..4136efed 100644
--- a/manual/CHAPTER_Overview.tex
+++ b/manual/CHAPTER_Overview.tex
@@ -331,8 +331,9 @@ to update {\tt \textbackslash{}q}.
An RTLIL::Process is a container for zero or more RTLIL::SyncRule objects and
exactly one RTLIL::CaseRule object, which is called the {\it root case}.
-An RTLIL::SyncRule object contains an (optional) synchronization condition
-(signal and edge-type) and zero or more assignments (RTLIL::SigSig).
+An RTLIL::SyncRule object contains an (optional) synchronization condition (signal and edge-type) and zero or
+more assignments (RTLIL::SigSig). The {\tt always} synchronization condition is used to break combinatorial
+loops when a latch should be inferred instead.
An RTLIL::CaseRule is a container for zero or more assignments (RTLIL::SigSig)
and zero or more RTLIL::SwitchRule objects. An RTLIL::SwitchRule objects is a
@@ -350,6 +351,18 @@ and this bit is a one (the second ``1'').} for {\tt \textbackslash{}reset == 1}
sets {\tt \$0\textbackslash{}q[0:0]} to the value of {\tt \textbackslash{}d} if {\tt
\textbackslash{}enable} is active (lines $6 \dots 11$).
+A case can specify zero or more compare values that will determine whether it matches. Each of the compare values
+must be the exact same width as the control signal. When more than one compare value is specified, the case matches
+if any of them matches the control signal; when zero compare values are specified, the case always matches (i.e.
+it is the default case).
+
+A switch prioritizes cases from first to last: multiple cases can match, but only the first matched case becomes
+active. This normally synthesizes to a priority encoder. The {\tt parallel\_case} attribute allows passes to assume
+that no more than one case will match, and {\tt full\_case} attribute allows passes to assume that exactly one
+case will match; if these invariants are ever dynamically violated, the behavior is undefined. These attributes
+are useful when an invariant invisible to the synthesizer causes the control signal to never take certain
+bit patterns.
+
The lines $13 \dots 16$ then cause {\tt \textbackslash{}q} to be updated whenever there is
a positive clock edge on {\tt \textbackslash{}clock} or {\tt \textbackslash{}reset}.
@@ -428,8 +441,8 @@ memory object has the following properties:
All read accesses to the memory are transformed to {\tt \$memrd} cells and all write accesses to
{\tt \$memwr} cells by the language frontend. These cells consist of independent read- and write-ports
-to the memory. The \B{MEMID} parameter on these cells is used to link them together and to the
-RTLIL::Memory object they belong to.
+to the memory. Memory initialization is transformed to {\tt \$meminit} cells by the language frontend.
+The \B{MEMID} parameter on these cells is used to link them together and to the RTLIL::Memory object they belong to.
The rationale behind using separate cells for the individual ports versus
creating a large multiport memory cell right in the language frontend is that