What is the difference between procedural and concurrent statements in System Verilog?

The Difference Between Procedural and Concurrent Statements in System Verilog

Procedural and concurrent statements are fundamental concepts in System Verilog programming. Understanding the difference between the two is crucial for efficient coding in hardware description languages.

Procedural Statements

Procedural statements in System Verilog are executed sequentially, one after the other, in the order in which they are written. These statements are enclosed within procedural blocks like always, initial, or task blocks. Procedural statements are used when specific operations need to be performed in a certain order. Common examples of procedural statements include if-else, case, while, for, and repeat loops.

Concurrent Statements

Concurrent statements, on the other hand, are executed concurrently or in parallel. They are typically used to model hardware components that operate simultaneously. Concurrent statements describe the behavior of digital circuits where multiple operations occur simultaneously. Examples of concurrent statements in System Verilog include module instantiations, assignments within the always_comb block, and fork-join constructs.

Focus Keyword: System Verilog

In summary, the main difference between procedural and concurrent statements in System Verilog lies in how they are executed: sequentially in the case of procedural statements and concurrently in the case of concurrent statements. Both types of statements play crucial roles in designing and simulating complex digital systems efficiently.