Working
with precompiled modules
Use of precompiled modules is a powerful feature of vIDE that allows you
to reuse your Verilog code without the overhead of re-parsing the sources.
Each precompiled module is stored inside a file with the same name as
the module's identifier and with the extension ".vo". The interpreter
expects to find such files inside the current directory or in one of those
given with the "-o" option (inside the IDE you can use the Preferences
dialog box to add custom directories).
Using precompiled headers
If you have tested at least once the simulator, it's almost sure you have
used them. The reason is that most part of the Verilog standard primitive
gates (like and, nand, etc.) are actually implemented
as precompiled modules. They're stored in the vIDE standard library directory
(called objects). So, as you presume, there's nothing special
to do in order to take advantage of them. This is due to the module name
resolving mechanism (inspired from the Java Class Loader :). The module
finding algorithm works in two steps: first, a module cache is searched
for a matching module for the given name. If it isn't found, then a file
with the same name as the module and the extension ".vo" is searched
inside some known directories. If the file is found, it is assumed to contain
the compiled form of the required module, and is loaded.
Creating the precompiled modules
Step one
After you finished writing&testing your modules, add one (or more)
$export
directives with the following syntax:
$export( <exported_module_identifier> * );
You can place these directives anywhere in the sources, but for documentation
purposes it is recommended to put them at the top of the Verilog source
file that contains the modules.
Step two
Run the command line interpreter with the -l option. This will cause object
files to be created inside the current working directory. You can move
now the object files into a personal library directory or in the vIDE standard
library directory.