Within computing, the Rosetta system-level specification language is a design language for complex, heterogeneous systems. Specific language design objectives include: Constraint representation Heterogeneous system representation and specification composability Well-defined formal semantics and support for formal analysis Scalability to large designs Rosetta was undergoing standardization at various times. History The Rosetta effort emerged from a meeting in of the Semiconductor Industry Council's System-Level Design Language committee in 1996. The objective of the meeting was to define requirements for a next-generation design language that would address perceived shortcomings in existing languages such as VHDL and Verilog. Specific concerns included inability to represent constraints, lack of a formal semantics, inability to represent heterogeneous systems, and heavy reliance on computer simulation for analysis. In response to these requirements, three major approaches were pursued: Extending hardware description languages including VHDL and Verilog Extending programming languages including C and C++ Defining new languages The first approach ultimately resulted in SystemVerilog and extensions to VHDL while the second resulted in SystemC, all of which became Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standards for the semiconductor industry. Rosetta's original application domain was system on a chip semiconductor systems. Rosetta resulted from the third approach with development beginning under the auspices of the Semiconductor Industry Council and the Air Force Research Laboratory. Originally developed by Perry Alexander and others at the University of Kansas, it was known simply as System-Level Design Language. Standardization was transferred to VHDL International by 2000 and renamed Rosetta (after the Rosetta Stone) to reflect the heterogeneous nature of its specifications. Eventually, VHDL International and the Open Verilog Initiative merged to form Accellera, an industry sponsored consortium for electronic design automation (EDA) standards. A draft standard of Rosetta was published in November 2003 through Accellera. Standardization was transferred to IEEE Design Automation Standards Committee (DASC) where it was developed by the Rosetta Working Group under IEEE project P1699 starting in March 2007. A draft of a language reference manual was published in April 2008, with editor Peter Ashenden of Australia. The project was withdrawn in June 2013. Structure Rosetta is structured around three sub-languages that support defining various specification elements. The expression language defines basic functions and expressions used as terms and values in specifications. The expression language is a non-strict, purely functional, typed language in the spirit of Haskell. Functions are referentially transparent, encapsulated expressions and cannot have side effects. All Rosetta expressions