Data Types

2.17 Conclusion

SystemVerilog provides many new data types and structures so that you can create high-level testbenches without having to worry about the bit-level representation. Queues work well for creating scoreboards where you constantly need to add and remove data. Dynamic arrays allow you to choose the array size at run-time for maximum testbench flexibility. Associative arrays are used for sparse memories and some scoreboards with a single index. Enumerated types make your code easier to read and write by creating groups of named constants.

But don’t go off and create a procedural testbench with just these constructs. Explore the OOP capabilities of SystemVerilog in Chapter 4 to learn how to design code at an even higher level of abstraction, thus creating robust and reusable code.