ForewordThe purpose of this standard is to provide the electronic design automation (EDA)@ semiconductor@ and system design communities with a well-defined and official IEEE unified hardware design@ specification@ and verification standard language. The language is designed to coexist and enhance the hardware description languages (HDLs) presently used by designers while providing the capabilities lacking in those languages.SystemVerilog is a unified hardware design@ specification@ and verification language that is based on the Accellera SystemVerilog 3.1a extensions to the Verilog HDL [B1]a@ published in 2004. Accellera is a consortium of EDA@ semiconductor@ and system companies. IEEE Std 1800 enables a productivity boost in design and validation and covers design@ simulation@ validation@ and formal assertion-based verification flows.SystemVerilog enables the use of a unified language for abstract and detailed specification of the design@ specification of assertions@ coverage@ and testbench verification that is based on manual or automatic methodologies. SystemVerilog offers application programming interfaces (APIs) for coverage and assertions@ a vendor-independent API to access proprietary waveform file formats@ and a direct programming interface (DPI) to access proprietary functionality. SystemVerilog offers methods that allow designers to continue to use present design languages when necessary to leverage existing designs and intellectual property. This standardization project will provide the VLSI design engineers with a well-defined IEEE standard that meets their requirements in design and validation and enables a step function increase in their productivity. This standardization project will also provide the EDA industry with a standard to which they can adhere and which they can support in order to deliver their solutions in this area.ScopeThis standard specifies extensions for a higher level of abstraction for modeling and verification with the Verilog? hardware description language (HDL). These additions extend Verilog into the systems space and the verification space. SystemVerilog is built on top of IEEE Std 1364?1 for the Verilog HDL. This standard includes design specification methods@ embedded assertions language@ testbench language including coverage and assertions application programming interface (API)@ and a direct programming interface (DPI).Throughout this standard@ the following terms apply:?? Verilog refers to IEEE Std 1364 for the Verilog HDL.?? Verilog-2001 refers to IEEE Std 1364-2001 [B4]2 for the Verilog HDL.?? Verilog-1995 refers to IEEE Std 1364-1995 [B3] for the Verilog HDL.?? SystemVerilog refers to the extensions to the Verilog standard (IEEE Std 1364) as defined in this standard.ScopeThis standard specifies extensions for a higher level of abstraction for modeling and verification with the Verilog? hardware description language (HDL). These additions extend Verilog into the systems space and the verification space. SystemVerilog is built on top of IEEE Std 1364?1 for the Verilog HDL. This standard includes design specification methods@ embedded assertions language@ testbench language including coverage and assertions application programming interface (API)@ and a direct programming interface (DPI).Throughout this standard@ the following terms apply:?? Verilog refers to IEEE Std 1364 for the Verilog HDL.?? Verilog-2001 refers to IEEE Std 1364-2001 [B4]2 for the Verilog HDL.?? Verilog-1995 refers to IEEE Std 1364-1995 [B3] for the Verilog HDL.?? SystemVerilog refers to the extensions to the Verilog standard (IEEE Std 1364) as defined in this standard.