sync and wait Actions vs. Temporal Struct and Unit Members

Using sync on a temporal expression (TE), does not guarantee that the execution will continue whenever the TE seems to succeed. In this example, the sync action will miss every second change of my_event:

    tcm0()@any is {

        wait;

        while TRUE {

            sync change (my_event)@any;

            message (LOW, "tcm0: change (my_event)@any occurred");

            wait cycle;

        };

    };

The explanation for this behavior is that Specman evaluates the temporal expression in the sync (or wait) action only when the action is reached.In this case, when "sync change (my_event)@clk;" is reached for the first time,  the value of my_event is saved, and the TE succeeds only at the next my_event change at the sampling event.

If you expect that each change will start a new TE evaluation, an event struct member should be used. Event and expects are struct members and therefore are evaluated as long as the struct is not quitted. In the example below, the execution will continue after each my_event change:

    event e is change(my_event)@any;

    tcm1()@any is {

        wait;

        while TRUE {

            sync @e;

            message (LOW, "tcm1: event e occurred");

            wait cycle;

        };

    };

But using sync on an event still does not guarantee that the execution will always continue whenever the TE seems to succeed. In the following TCM, although e will occur each cycle, the execution will continue after every third occurence:

 

    tcm2()@any is {

        wait;

        while TRUE {

            sync @e;

            message (LOW, "tcm2: event e occurred");

            wait [3]*cycle;

        };

    };

Using on struct/unit member ensures execution upon each e occurrence:

   

   on e {

      message (LOW, "on: change (my_event)@any occurred");

    };

To summarize:

When we want to guarantee the execution of some code whenever a TE succeeds, it is recommended to define an event and on struct member, which remain active throughout the lifetime of the object from its creation until either quit() is called or the run ends.

 

Specman support