mental improvements during the same period. What is clearly needed in
verification techniques and technology is the equivalent of a synthesis
productivity breakthrough. In the second edition of Writing Testbenches,
Bergeron raises the verification level of abstraction by introducing
coverage-driven constrained-random transaction-level self-checking
testbenches- all made possible through the introduction of hardware
verification languages (HVLs), such as e from Verisity and OpenVera from
Synopsys. The state-of-art methodologies described in Writing Test-
benches will contribute greatly to the much-needed equivalent of a
synthesis breakthrough in verification productivity. I not only highly
recommend this book, but also I think it should be required reading by
anyone involved in design and verification of today's ASIC, SoCs and
systems. Harry Foster Chief Architect Verplex Systems, Inc. xviii
Writing Testbenches: Functional Verification of HDL Models PREFACE If
you survey hardware design groups, you will learn that between 60% and
80% of their effort is now dedicated to verification.