llvm / llvm/circt

[ExportVerilog] Support `math.ipowi` operation

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ExportVerilog
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Description

The following Verilog currently fails to round-trip through `circt-verilog | circt-opt --lower-seq-to-sv --export-verilog`:
```systemverilog
module binary_ops_00000105(a, y);
input [3:0] a;
output [4:0] y;
assign y = 4'd2 ** a;
endmodule
```
Error:
```
syn_circt/binary_ops_00000105.mlir:6:10: error: dialect "math" not supported for direct Verilog emission
%1 = math.ipowi %c2_i6, %0 : i6
^
syn_circt/binary_ops_00000105.mlir:6:10: note: see current operation: %3 = "math.ipowi"(%0, %2) : (i6, i6) -> i6
syn_circt/binary_ops_00000105.mlir:6:10: note: ExportVerilog cannot emit this operation; it needs to be lowered before running ExportVerilog
```
I don't think we have ever run into a need to have `**` emitted back to Verilog before. There is no op in the Comb dialect to represent `**`, which is why ImportVerilog uses `math.ipowi`. It might be worthwhile adding direct support for `math.ipowi` to ExportVerilog for the few cases where this comes up.

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by tracing how ImportVerilog represents the `**` expression as `math.ipowi`, then inspect the ExportVerilog path reached by `circt-opt --lower-seq-to-sv --export-verilog`. Reproduce the failure with the provided `binary_ops_00000105` module and verify that the round trip completes with the exponentiation preserved in emitted Verilog.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
cpp
Domain
compilers
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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