This paper describes the design and implementation of the VHDL-93 Hardware Description Browser, which is a tool for the intelligent retrieval of information from VHDL designs. The Browser consists of two Unix processes: a Tcl/TK GUI and a Prolog search engine. The GUI elicits queries from the user and submits them to the Prolog search engine via a two-way communication pipe. The search engine satisfies queries by traversing a forest of parse trees corresponding to associated VHDL designs. The Results are sent to the GUI for posting.
Two public-domain tools were used to implement the Browser: SWI-Prolog, chosen or its pattern-matching capabilities and its use as an executable specification language, and TCL/TK for its high-level windowing operations and text-substitution capability to allow meta-programming.
Intelligent Retrieval, Browser, Hardware Design Database, GUI, Search Engine, Parsers in Prolog.