h1{text-align: center}. Welcome to Ruby-VPI

Ruby-VPI is a "Ruby interface":http://ruby-lang.org to "Verilog VPI":http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/standardstoc.jsp?isnumber=33945. It lets you create complex Verilog test benches easily and wholly in Ruby.

h2. Features

* Prototype and verify designs _quickly_ using "BDD(behavior-driven development)":http://behaviour-driven.org/, "TDD(test-driven development)":http://www.agiledata.org/essays/tdd.html, and more.
* Reuse the _same_ specification to verify both prototype and design.
* Specifications are executable _and_ human-readable. (See this <a href="./doc/usage.tutorial.html#fig..counter_rspecTest_spec.rb">example specification</a> and its <a href="./doc/usage.tutorial.html#fig..test-proto.rspec">boss-friendly output</a>.)

* Utilize Ruby's power and elegance. ("Why choose Ruby?":http://www.ruby-doc.org/whyruby)
** Built-in support for unlimited length integers, regular expressions, networking, multi-threading, system calls, _ad infinium_!
** Easy to use; doesn't get in your way.
** Makes programming _fun_ again!

* Study, modify, or distribute this free software in accordance with the "GNU General Public License":http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html.


h1. Getting started

* See the "user manual":./doc to begin using Ruby-VPI.

* See the "release history":./history.html to see what is new in this release.

* See API documentation for the "C extension":./ref/c or "Ruby-VPI libraries":./ref/ruby.

* Visit the "project website":http://ruby-vpi.rubyforge.org for additional resources.


h1. Building release packages

In addition to the "normal requirements":./doc/usage.requirements.html, you need the following software to build release packages:

* "DocBook-XML":http://www.docbook.org/
** xsltproc
** xmlto
* "RedCloth":http://rubyforge.org/projects/redcloth/
* "SWIG":http://www.swig.org/

Once you have satisfied these requirements, you can run @rake release@ to build the release packages. Also, see the output of @rake -T@ for more build options.