ProtoWygran

ProtoWygran is a fictional proto-language described in speculative computing literature as an early precursor to the Wygran family of hardware description languages. It is presented as a compact, declarative language intended to specify modular hardware configurations and their interconnections, using a minimal type system and simple constraint rules. The name marks its status as a historical stepping stone in the imagined evolution of hardware specification languages.

The concept appears in thought experiments and fictional essays from the late 1980s to the early 1990s, where it is used to illustrate how hardware description concepts could evolve from basic wiring diagrams to formal specifications. It is not reported to have been implemented as a working tool; rather, it functions as a conceptual model for discussion.

ProtoWygran is described as supporting components, ports, connections, and parameterized templates, with rule-based constraints to enforce valid interconnections and basic behavioral properties. Its scope is modest, focusing on specification rather than synthesis or verification.

In the literature, ProtoWygran is a narrative device that highlights abstraction, modularity, and the early thinking that led to later hardware description languages. It is often mentioned alongside other proto-languages that illustrate the historical development of HDL ideas.

See also: hardware description language, Wygran, proto-language, modular hardware design.