Hardware verification language
A Hardware Verification Language, or HVL, is a programming language used to verify the designs of electronic circuits written in a Hardware description language. HVLs typically include features of a high-level programming language like C++ or Java as well as features for easy bit-level manipulation similar to those found in HDLs.
OpenVera, Specman e, and SystemC are the most commonly used HVLs, while SystemVerilog attempts to combine HDL and HVL constructs into a single standard.