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C++BOLD Reference Manual

16.3. Naming Conventions for User Instances

User instance names (e.g., for parts, modules, ports, etc.) should be chosen for readability.

UpperCamelCase is recommended for all user instance names except ports.

Caution on ending an instance name with a digit (0-9):

It is legal to end an instance name in a digit. For example, VPP12 is a good name for a +12V power port.

The designer should avoid ending the name of an array instance in a digit, because confusing output may result.

The CBOLD framework forms symbolic names from the name and number (if any) assigned to an instance during the Register pass. See Registering. For example, the symbolic name for the instance Foo[3] is Foo3. Confusion can result if the designer ends an array instance name in a digit. For example, if a design contains an array PullupVCC5[4], then rega( PullupVCC5, 4 ); will register the elements of this array as:

The symbolic names for the elements will be:

Although the CBOLD framework knows which portion of the symbolic name is the registered name (PullupVCC5) and which part is the registered number (0-3), a human reading the symbolic netlist might be confused.

If you want an array instance name to end in a digit, you should follow that digit with an underscore. In the above example, if the designer had declared the array as PullupVCC5_[4] and registered it with rega( PullupVCC5_, 4 );, then the symbolic names for the elements would be:

16.3.1. Naming Conventions for Terminators

Terminator instance names should be chosen to reflect the type of terminator.

For example, PTerm1 is a good name for a parallel termination resistor, and STerm1 is a good name for a series termation resistor.

Names like PTerm1 and STerm1 provide a reminder of the resistor's function and hence its location on the transmission line. A name like RTerm1 indicates a terminator but not which end of the transmission line is appropriate for the terminator.

See the examples in the Naming Conventions for Nets section.