[sv-ec] FW: BOUNCE sv-ec@eda.org: Non-member submission from ["Jim Vellenga" <vellenga@cadence.com>]

FWd: non-member submission 

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-sv-ec@eda.org [mailto:owner-sv-ec@eda.org] 
Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2006 10:27 AM
To: sv-ec-approval@eda.org
Subject: BOUNCE sv-ec@eda.org: Non-member submission from ["Jim
Vellenga" <vellenga@cadence.com>] 

What is the purpose of the lifetime qualifier in a class declaration?

IEEE Std 1800-2005 "6.6 Scope and lifetime" states:

"SystemVerilog adds an optional qualifier to specify the default 
lifetime of all variables declared in a task, function, or block 
defined within a module, interface, or program (see Clause 16). The 
lifetime qualifier is automatic or static.  The default lifetime is 
static."

Although the paragraph doesn't say so, one could infer that "class 
<lifetime>" would therefore declare the lifetime of all variables 
declared in a task or function defined with the class.  But 6.6 goes on 
to say:

"Class methods ... are by default automatic, regardless of the lifetime 
attribute of the scope in which they are declared.  Classes are 
discussed in Clause 7."

I notice that a VPI class defn has a property vpiAutomatic to 
report the lifetime of the class defn.  Since I'm working on VPI,
I need to know what the property is supposed to mean.

So what _is_ the purpose of the lifetime qualifier in a class 
declaration?

Regards,
Jim V.


--------------------------------------------------------- 
James H. Vellenga                            978-262-6381 
Engineering Director                   (FAX) 978-262-6636 
Cadence Design Systems, Inc.         vellenga@cadence.com 
270 Billerica Rd 
Chelmsford, MA 01824-4179 
"We all work with partial information." 
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