Generics in Verilog

// In Verilog, we don't have direct support for generics or type parameters.
// However, we can use parameters to achieve some level of flexibility.

// This module implements a parameterized function similar to SlicesIndex
module SlicesIndex #(
    parameter WIDTH = 8,
    parameter SIZE = 4
) (
    input [WIDTH-1:0] s [SIZE-1:0],
    input [WIDTH-1:0] v,
    output reg [$clog2(SIZE)-1:0] index
);
    integer i;
    always @(*) begin
        index = -1;
        for (i = 0; i < SIZE; i = i + 1) begin
            if (s[i] == v) begin
                index = i;
                break;
            end
        end
    end
endmodule

// In Verilog, we can't directly implement a linked list as in the Go example.
// Instead, we'll create a simple array-based list.
module List #(
    parameter WIDTH = 8,
    parameter MAX_SIZE = 16
) (
    input clk,
    input rst,
    input [WIDTH-1:0] push_val,
    input push_en,
    output reg [WIDTH-1:0] elements [MAX_SIZE-1:0],
    output reg [$clog2(MAX_SIZE):0] size
);
    always @(posedge clk or posedge rst) begin
        if (rst) begin
            size <= 0;
        end else if (push_en && size < MAX_SIZE) begin
            elements[size] <= push_val;
            size <= size + 1;
        end
    end
endmodule

// Testbench to demonstrate the usage
module testbench;
    reg clk, rst;
    reg [7:0] s [3:0];
    reg [7:0] v;
    wire [1:0] index;

    SlicesIndex #(8, 4) si (
        .s(s),
        .v(v),
        .index(index)
    );

    reg [7:0] push_val;
    reg push_en;
    wire [7:0] list_elements [15:0];
    wire [4:0] list_size;

    List #(8, 16) lst (
        .clk(clk),
        .rst(rst),
        .push_val(push_val),
        .push_en(push_en),
        .elements(list_elements),
        .size(list_size)
    );

    initial begin
        clk = 0;
        rst = 1;
        #10 rst = 0;

        // Test SlicesIndex
        s[0] = "foo";
        s[1] = "bar";
        s[2] = "zoo";
        s[3] = "baz";
        v = "zoo";
        #10;
        $display("index of zoo: %d", index);

        // Test List
        push_en = 1;
        push_val = 10;
        #10;
        push_val = 13;
        #10;
        push_val = 23;
        #10;
        push_en = 0;
        #10;
        $display("list size: %d", list_size);
        $display("list elements: %d %d %d", list_elements[0], list_elements[1], list_elements[2]);

        $finish;
    end

    always #5 clk = ~clk;
endmodule

In this Verilog translation, we’ve adapted the concepts of generics and linked lists to fit Verilog’s hardware description paradigm:

  1. The SlicesIndex function is implemented as a parameterized module. It uses the WIDTH parameter to set the bit width of array elements and the SIZE parameter to set the array size.

  2. Instead of a linked list, we’ve implemented the List as a simple array-based list using a module with parameters for element width and maximum size.

  3. The testbench module demonstrates how to use these parameterized modules, similar to the main function in the Go example.

  4. Verilog doesn’t have built-in string types, so we’ve used 8-bit values to represent characters. In a real implementation, you might need to adjust this based on your specific requirements.

  5. The concept of pushing elements onto the list is implemented using a clock-driven always block in the List module.

This Verilog code demonstrates how to achieve some level of parameterization and reusability, which are core concepts of generics in programming languages. However, it’s important to note that hardware description languages like Verilog have different paradigms and constraints compared to software programming languages.