Here is some general advice for simulation of HDL code. No respect is paid to verification methodologies like UVM or OSVVM. Most of it is obvious, but it helps my memory when I write these things down.
- Use assert statements to catch error events. Your eyes can miss even the most obvious error when scanning over some simulation waveforms after a long day in front of the screen.
- Use log files and/or report statements to save information about the status and progress of simulation, errors or any other noteworthy event. This will speed up the task of locating events of interest and will allow you to do text searches over those files.
- Use colors, the right radix for numbers and hierarchical structure in your waveform viewer for optimal data representation. Unless you prefer to look at heaps of green lines with loads of 0’s and 1’s around them.
- Save your simulator/waveform settings. At some point you will come back and won’t have to repeat the tedious task of setting up a neat waveform view. The simulator/waveform settings should also go into the repository (separate folder for each simulator), but it’s a matter of taste.
