Unexpected behaviour using the ternary operator (Verilog) - verilog

Question

In the following Verilog module, I'd like to understand why the blocking assignment using concatenation doesn't give the same result as the 2 commented out blocking assignments.
When I run the program on the FPGA, it gives the expected result with the 2 blocking assignments (the leds blink), but not with the blocking assignment using concatenation (the leds stay off).
Bonus points for answers pointing to the Verilog specification explaining what is at play here!
/* Every second, the set of leds that are lit will change */
module blinky(
input clk,
output [3:0] led
);
reg [3:0] count = 0;
reg [27:0] i = 0;
localparam [27:0] nTicksPerSecond = 100000000;
assign led = {count[3],count[2],count[1],count[0]};
always # (posedge(clk)) begin
// This works:
//count = i==nTicksPerSecond ? (count + 1) : count;
//i = i==nTicksPerSecond ? 0 : i+1;
// But this doesn't:
{count,i} = i==nTicksPerSecond ?
{count+1, 28'b0 } :
{count , i+1};
end
endmodule
PS: I use Vivado 2018.2

Answer 1

The reason is because the widths of count+1 and i+1 are both 32 bits. An unsized number is 32 bits wide (1800-2017 LRM section 5.7.1) and the width of the addition operator is the size of the largest operand (LRM section 11.6.1). To make your code work, add a proper size to your numeric literals
{count,i} = i==nTicksPerSecond ?
{count+4'd1, 28'b0 } :
{count , i+28'd1};
A simpler way to write this code is
always # (posedge clk)
if (i== nTicksPerSecond)
begin
count <= count + 1;
i <= 0;
end
else
begin
i <= i + 1;
end