RE: [sv-bc] enumerated variable used with an equality operator

There are more than these two ways that an enum can get an invalid value.


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-sv-bc@eda.org [mailto:owner-sv-bc@eda.org] On Behalf Of Arturo Salz
Sent: Friday, March 21, 2014 10:54 AM
To: Graham, Paul; sv-bc@eda.org
Subject: RE: [sv-bc] enumerated variable used with an equality operator

But, all the strong type checking of enumerated values went out the door the moment we enabled two things: static casting of arbitrary values outside the enumeration range, and initialization of 4-state enumerations to 'X, even when that is not an enumeration member.
I am sympathetic to the stronger checks, but unless we address the above two issues, enumerations are cannot be assumed safe.

	Arturo

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-sv-bc@eda.org [mailto:owner-sv-bc@eda.org] On Behalf Of Graham, Paul
Sent: Friday, March 21, 2014 7:04 AM
To: sv-bc@eda.org
Subject: RE: [sv-bc] enumerated variable used with an equality operator

Hear, hear!  It is strange to have strict type checking rules just for some types, namely enums and unpacked types (I'm thinking only about synthesizable types).  Suppose I want an integer type to be type-checked?  I need to hack it up by declaring it as an enum:

    typedef enum integer {zero, one, two, three, ..., int_max} typed_integer;

Or I might be using an enum type just as a quick way to define some named values, instead of using a sequence of `defines.  Maybe I don't want all the strict type checking baggage on my named integral constants.

Shouldn't type checking be orthogonal to type implementation?  Why not have a type attribute, similar to "packed" or "signed", which says that this type is not to be mixed with any other type:

    typedef integer typechecked typed_integer;

Now a variable of type typed_integer can't be assigned with or compared to a variable of any other type.

Paul
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-sv-bc@eda.org [mailto:owner-sv-bc@eda.org] On Behalf Of Vreugdenhil, Gordon
Sent: Friday, March 21, 2014 9:52 AM
To: Bresticker, Shalom; Rich, Dave; Neil Korpusik; sv-bc@eda.org
Subject: Re: [sv-bc] enumerated variable used with an equality operator

I would be Ok with the more lenient interpretation, but I also think it would be valid to conclude that relational of a non-enum integral with a enum is Ok (ie. does a coercion), but enum-enum relational is not.  
Given the "stronger" intent of enums, that might be appropriate.   
Allowing cross-enum behavior everywhere except assignment seems to be giving up most of the benefits of a "strong" type so perhaps we should just treat then as labelled values of the basetype and forget about the stronger type rules completely.

Gord



On 3/21/2014 2:00 AM, Bresticker, Shalom wrote:
> If you want this to be illegal, then you would need to define clearly and usefully where and how you can use an enum value. It might be too difficult and limited to be worthwhile.
>
> I agree with Brad. The reference to Mantis 4708 is appropriate. The mention of relational operators in the quoted sentence in the LRM is not appropriate.
>
> In the sentence, "Enumerated variables are type-checked in assignments, arguments, and relational operators," if we ignore the mention of relational operators, then the type checking refers to the case where an enumerated variable is assigned, i.e., on the LHS of an assignment, or as the actual argument for an output argument or the formal argument for an input argument.
>
> Shalom
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: owner-sv-bc@eda.org [mailto:owner-sv-bc@eda.org] On Behalf Of 
>> Rich, Dave
>> Sent: Friday, March 21, 2014 02:37
>> To: Neil Korpusik; sv-bc@eda.org
>> Subject: RE: [sv-bc] enumerated variable used with an equality 
>> operator
>>
>> It should be illegal, but it isn't
>>
>> The LRM says:
>>
>> Enumerated variables are type-checked in assignments, arguments, and 
>> relational operators. Enumerated variables are auto-cast into 
>> integral values, but assignment of arbitrary expressions to an 
>> enumerated variable requires an explicit cast.
>>
>> The LRM does not explain what "type-checked" means, but I take it to 
>> mean if it can proceed to auto-cast it to an integral expression, it 
>> will.
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: owner-sv-bc@eda.org [mailto:owner-sv-bc@eda.org] On Behalf Of 
>> Neil Korpusik
>> Sent: Thursday, March 20, 2014 5:25 PM
>> To: sv-bc@eda.org
>> Subject: [sv-bc] enumerated variable used with an equality operator
>>
>> Is the following legal? Should it be?
>>
>> Neil
>>
>>
>>
>> module top();
>>
>> typedef enum {A,B,C,D} f_t;
>> typedef enum {X,Y,Z  } b_t;
>>
>> initial begin
>>     f_t f;
>>     b_t b;
>>
>>     f = A;
>>     if (f == X) $display("matched");   // legal?
>> end
>> endmodule
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