Product Description

Since the publication of the first edition of The Designer's Guide to VHDL in 1996, digital electronic systems have increased exponentially in their complexity, product lifetimes have dramatically shrunk, and reliability requirements have shot through the roof.As a result more and more designers have turned to VHDL to help them dramatically improve productivity as well as the quality of their designs.

VHDL,the IEEE standard hardware description language for describing digital electronic systems, allows engineers to describe the structure and specify the function of a digital system as well assimulate and test it before manufacturing.In addition, designers use VHDL to synthesize a more detailed structure of the design, freeing them to concentrate on more strategic design decisions and reduce time to market.Adopted by designers around the world, the VHDL family of standards have recentlybeen revised to address a range of issues, including portability across synthesis tools.

This best-selling comprehensive tutorialfor the language and authoritative reference on its use in hardware design at all levels--from system to gates--has been revised toreflect the new IEEE standard, VHDL-2001.Peter Ashenden, a member of the IEEE VHDL standards committee, presents the entire description language and builds a modeling methodology based on successful software engineering techniques.Reviewers on Amazon.com have consistently rated the first edition with five stars.This second edition updates the first, retaining the authors unique ability to teach this complex subject to a broad audience of students and practicing professionals.

* Details how the new standard allows for increased portability across tools.
* Covers related standards, including the Numeric Synthesis Package and the Synthesis Operability Package, demonstrating how they can be used for digital systems design.
* Presents four extensive case studies to demonstrate and combine features of the language taught across multiple chapters.
* Requires only a minimal background in programming, making it an excellent tutorial for anyone in computer architecture, digital systems engineering, or CAD.Amazon.com Review
VHDL may sound like a new Internet language, but it reallystands for VHSIC (Very High Speed Integrated Circuit) Hardware DefinitionLanguage. VHDL borrows ideas from software engineering (architectural,behavior, and formal models, as well as modular design) and is used todesign today's custom integrated circuits, from cell phones tomicrowave ovens and even CPUs. Peter Ashenden's The Designer'sGuide to VHDL shows you how to use this language to write ahardware design, which you can then test in a simulator before"synthesizing" it into an actual hardware design insilicon.

The book begins with the basics of VHDL, which, like anysoftware language, has keywords, operators, flow control statements,and programming conventions. Next, the author introduces his firstcase study--a "pipelined multiplier accumulator," whichsimulates a CPU register. He then moves on to more complicated models,such as a design for a complete CPU (the DLX processor, which is usedas a model for educating future CPU designers). More advanced aspectsof VHDL follow, including guard signals, abstract data types, and evenfile I/O. A final case study (for a "queuing network") putsthese components into practice. The book closes with a discussion of"synthesizers"--additional software tools that convert aVHDL specification into silicon--and how these tools impose designlimits. The appendices include Institute of Electrical and ElectronicsEngineers (IEEE) enhancements to VHDL, which have increased the designlanguage's power. Although most of us won't ever need to design ourown integrated circuit, this book shows how it's done. Engineeringstudents who need to master VHDL during a semester-length course, willfind Ashenden's guide to be indispensable--and written in anaccessible style rarely found in engineering texts. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (23)

Review for VHDL Book
The book was in excellent condition and was shipped by the author in a timely fashion.

Wow - what a find!
A very fine book. I have many VHDL books but this one does it for me.

An excellent guide to VHDL, highly recommended.
This book is an excellent guide to VHDL, for both beginners and experts alike. The examples are very clear, and is written well. I checked out many VHDL books and I found this book to be the best, in terms of how the author presents the concepts and the examples contained therein.

Best VHDL Reference
This has been my definitive VHDL language reference for 6 or 7 years, now.I use it as I would K&R for the C language.It explains all the gory syntactical and structural details of a messy language.

I would agree that this text is not a "synthesis cookbook" for learning the best way to produce logic from code.But I do not think that its the author's goal to do so.He does cover practical examples of applied VHDL which serve as a great reference when I have to remember how to build a testbench.

A Great Book for Behavioral VHDL, Not for Synthesis
This book goes into great detail on variable typing, subtyping, and all aspects of behavioral modeling.It's extremely detailed and thourough.If you just want to learn the intricacies of VHDL and only expect to write test benches and behavioral models, this is definitely the book for you.If you're looking for a practical book that will help you to write synthesizable code, look somewhere else.The book does have a 17-page appendix on synthesis, but that's pretty much it.All the "case studies" are behavioral, even the RTL models. ... Read more

Product Description
The VHDL Reference: The essential guide for students and professionals working in computer hardware design and synthesis.

The definitive guide to VHDL, this book combines a comprehensive reference of the VHDL syntax with tutorial and workshop materials that guide the reader through the principles of digital hardware design. The Authors describe the concept of VHDL and VHDL-AMS for modelling and synthesis and explain how VHDL can be used for the design of digital systems.
The CD-ROM features workshop and reference material to familiarise beginners with the use of VHDL for simulation and for synthesis. In-depth examples of VHDL construct are explained in compact and easy to follow form providing immediate help and answers to specific problems.

Features include:

* Accompanying CD-ROM version of the VHDL Reference including demonstration tools and workshop material covering language aspects for digital systems.
* Modelling tutorial featuring VHDL-AMS, the new standard for modelling and simulating mixed signal micro systems. Real-life examples enable the reader to test their knowledge and clarify their understanding of the concepts.
* Design workshop format taking the reader through an entire circuit design using an actual design problem, allowing beginners to put their VHDL skills into practice.
* A user friendly reference section providing in depth coverage of the VHDL language for digital systems.
* Includes tools for editing VHDL source files, simulating and synthesising VHDL models.

The VHDL Reference is a highly accessible single source reference to the industry standard language for computer-aided electronic system design. It is not only an essential guide for undergraduate and postgraduate students in electrical engineering but also an indispensable aid to researchers and hardware designers and teachers using VHDL and logic synthesis. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

VHDL book with workshop
This VHDL book is targeted more to the VHDL beginners.It contains a quite good html-based VHDL workshop and the VHDL '93 online reference. It covers only a little bit the new emerging analog mixed-signal extension to VHDL which is called VHDL-AMS. The VHDL-AMS chapter was very disappointing to me.

If you are looking for a book about VHDL-AMS you're better off with the following book:

"The DESIGNER'S GUIDE TO ANALOG & MIXED-SIGNAL MODELING" "Illustrated with VHDL-AMS and MAST"

Author:Scott Cooper (Avant! Corporation) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (21)

A good book to learn Verilog and VHDL at once
This book places Verilog and VHDL code side by side and makes learning both languages simultaneously easy.It also shows the synthesized the circuits.It is easy to lose sight of the logic circuits that the HDL tries to describe, especially for people whose background is not electrical.This book brings circuit reality back from the HDL abstraction.

The book binding is not good; the book falls a part easily.Mine has to go in a binder now.

HDL Chip Design
An excellent reference book and in remarkably good condition. I ordered this book and VHDL by Douglas L. Perry and both arrived in less than a week. I am very pleased with this transaction.

The first book that made HDL clear to me
This book contains examples of code in Verilog, VHDL, AND C!The value of this was to build my understanding of what the HDL is doing.Although it reads like a "cookbook" the 'recipes' clearly compare the ways a recipe can be cooked.I recommend this as both a learning tool and as a reference.

Includes essential coverage for both Verilog and VHDL
The book nicely covers both Veriloh and VHDL in general. However, it doesn't cover any of them deeply. It is essentially a good book for engineers who have background and knowledge in one of the HDLs and need to get familiar with the other one as it has sufficient examples and code comparisons.However, it is not an advanced book in either Verilog or VHDL. For example, it doesn't cover compiler directive commands or transistor level modeling in Verilog. It doesn't compare and analyze the synthesis results of different coding styles and different optimization approaches either.Unfortunately, the indexing of the book is very poor and doesn't help you if you need to find something quickly.

Overall, this is a good book to have if you need to switch between Verilog and VHDL and need to compare and grab fundamental concepts.

Unique coverage of both Verilog and VHDL
This book is a unique text on several levels, providing information rarely found in most academic treatments of the subject targeted at beginning students.

It covers and compares VHDL and Verilog impartially, describing their differences, strengths and weaknesses.

It has side by side VHDL and Verilog code - if you know one language, this is an excellent reference to the other language.My copy of the book was used by several engineers to cross train themselves in Verilog or VHDL.

Code is given for practical, real world circuits.From multiplexers to FSM to ALU, it is all in there.Each "class" of circuit is given its own chapter and covered in depth.The FSM chapter is 74 pages, for example.

There are many illustrations of the resulting synthesized logic.A picture is worth a thousand words, and seeing the result of different coding styles is very instructive.For example, coded one way, you get asynchronous resets, coded another, you get synchronous set/reset on your flipflops.

Beyond just a cookbook of VHDL and Verilog reference code, the book does cover such topics as scan test structures, simulation, hierarchial design, but these topics do not receive an in-depth coveraqe.There is an entire chapter dedicated to writing test harnesses, again with side-by-side code for VHDL and Verilog.

My copy saw use in multiple real world projects, by multiple, experienced engineers.It was most often used by VHDL (or Verilog) experts to learn Verilog (or VHDL).It was also used as a reference for coding particular structures.Quickly providing the answer to questions like "how do I code a carry lookahead in Verilog?"Eventually, I had to stop loaning it out as the pages began to fall out from the high volume of use.Unfortunately, it is no longer in print, so I have to use it very carefully, and coworkers are forced to struggle with inferior texts for reference.

... Read more

Product Description
This book provides the most up-to-date coverage using the Synopsys program in the design of integrated circuits. The incorporation of "synthesis tools" is the most popular new method of designing integrated circuits for higher speeds covering smaller surface areas.

Synopsys is the dominant computer-aided circuit design program in the world. All of the major circuit manufacturers and ASIC design firms use Synopsys. In addition, Synopsys is used in teaching and laboratories at over 600 universities.


* First practical guide to using synthesis with Synopsys
* Synopsys is the #1 design program for IC design ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Excellent
I have four VHDL books right now and this is the best.The other books teach you the entire language set, which is nice, but they fail to mention that only a segment of the language is synthesizable.This book does a great job teaching you how to program with effective VHDL code period.This is very important because it can save you countless hours of code rewriting.

Not the best vhdl synthesis book
I found this book to be written in a confusing manner, and full of mistakes.For example, on page 51, the author says that hexadecimal E equals decimal 15.Apparently this is not a typo, because it is repeated on page 52, along with the statement that hexadecimal F equals decimal 16.For the beginner, I recommend Bhasker's vhdl primers.Ashenden's Designer's Guide to VHDL is the gold standard for a comprehensive text on the language itself, although it is skimpy on synthesis.

A must have for any logic synthesis designer
I agree with previous author. This book won't let you sleep like the "designer's guide to VHDL" will. I strongly recommend reading this book and then read another excellent book ""Digital Systems Design with VHDL and Synthesis" by "K.C. Chang".

However, this book still has weakness, it lacks some detailed info about the sysnthesis tool, such like what is wireload model.Knowing those in a little more detail should help the design in getting better result. Also I am not sure what is the point spending more than 100 pages with all the Appendix such like a list of the std_logic_1164 library and the EDIF files. I would rather having more detail info about the synthesis theory than those listing or take out the listings and cut the price down... .

Very good book, save your time too
I bought this book together with the "Designer's Guide to VHDL", And I decided to read the later first. One week ago, I found out I was making a big mistake.

This book is wonderful, The author put in clear and necessary information and his experience to make the book thick, rather than putting in verbose explanations. When you read this book, you save your time and get better understand of the language, and you can start writing your own code very soon.

I love this book, and it doesn't make me sleepy like the "designer's guide to vhdl" did.

This Book Is Highly Recommended
This book is highly recommended for all the students and engineers. Itexplains synthesis in detail with examples showing the reader how to useSynopsys commands to optimize synthesized designs. Besided that, figuresand explanations are also included throughout. So, keep it one foryourself! ... Read more

Product Description
VHDL is clearly becoming the defacto standard as an electronic hardware description language — yet the bible of VHDL, the large and complex Language Reference Manual (LRM), is exceptionally cumbersome, if not difficult, to use — various parts of the syntax for major constructs are spread in disparate sections throughout the Manual. Designed to alleviate such problems and frustrations, this guide describes the complete syntax of the IEEE Std 1076-1993 version of VHDL — showing the complete syntax of major VHDL constructs and sub-constructs in an easy-to-read manner, with clear examples of each.A reference for anyone writing VHDL models or using VHDL in CAD development. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Does not use standard B-N form, poor typesetting.
As others mentioned, this is not a VHDL guide; rather it is exactly what the title says, a guide to VHDL syntax only.My main problem with it is the book doesn't use Backus-Naur form to describe the syntax, but arrows drawn everywhere, which takes up a lot of space for very little information per page.

The typesetting is extremely poor; it looks like the final book was written on a typewriter and photocopied.There are blemishes on most of the pages.

A Good Reference Guide for VHDL Syntax
This book is a comprehensive guide to the syntax of VHDL and a good comparison of the differences between VHDL 87 and VHDL 93.It's somewhat similar to the IEEE spec, but in a lot of ways is easier to follow.It isNOT a tutorial and readers shouldn't expect to learn VHDL by reading it. Instead, it is a good computer-side reference to the syntax of thelanguage.It is one of the few books that is actually namedcorrectly.

The only real flaw I've found is that the index needs to bemore complete and some of the entries could probably be separated out tomake it easier to find things.For example, to find "operators",there is no index entry for "operators".Instead you have toknow to look under both "expression" and "simpleexpression".However, a couple times through the book and you'lllearn where everything is located.

Comprehensive, well organized coverage of VHDL syntax
Even if you own several books on using VHDL as a design language, this book can be very helpful.Books on design do cover syntax, but their coverage is often not complete and is not organized in a way to allow quick reference."A Guide to VHDL Syntax" provides comprehensive and well organized coverage of the subject.The examples given for each syntax item are numerous and very helpful.I recommend this book to every designer who uses VHDL. ... Read more

Product Description
The future of circuit and device design lies with HardwareDescription Languages. This is an easy, hand-holding introduction to using HDLsfor rapid design and prototyping.Learn all you need to knowto start using HDLs in the digital design of circuits and devices. This bookwalks through all the basics, and presents extensive examples. Allcircuit/device designers who use, or are considering using, a HardwareDescription Language (HDL). ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Confusing
The AHDL portion of this isn't hopeless but it's impossible to even start to learn VHDL from this book - it never makes sense. Notice how cheap the re-sells of this book are? Ding!

Nice examples, but a weak effort
Overall, this may be a good book for the beginning AHDL designer. However, if you would like to learn about VHDL, find another resource. Several of the examples in VHDL (Chapters 9 through 13) do not compile. In fact, some of the examples are completely missing from the web site.

The overall look and feel is cheap. The diagrams appear to have been drawn using an inexpensive drawing program, with the "snap to grid" option turned on. My cousin in the second grade could have done a better job.

The use of mixed case in the code examples is confusing and inconsistant. Some variable naming standard should be adopted. ... Read more

Product Description
Written for an advanced-level course in digital systems design, DIGITAL SYSTEMS DESIGN USING VHDL integrates the use of the industry-standard hardware description language VHDL into the digital design process. Following a review of basic concepts of logic design, the author introduces the basics of VHDL, and then incorporates more coverage of advanced VHDL topics. Rather than simply teach VHDL as a programming language, this book emphasizes the practical use of VHDL in the digital design process. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Not exacly what I was expecting
Well I the book is not in an awful condition. But I was looking for books that were in really good condition and this has some pages that have a lot of things written down. And the CD is missing which apparently has a lot of useful information

Not a good choice to take
I bought this book and it was recommended as a textbook for the VHDL course. I have this book and I am 100% sure that this book is NOT one of the good VHDL books you need/want in your library. It belongs to the "OK" level.
chapter one:
is the most valuable chapter. it contains an excellent review for every thing in digital logic, and guess what?
chapter two:
is a poor organized chapter that presents VHDL basics. after reading this chapter you will stop reading because you will start searching for other well organized books! that was my situation and 9 of my friends got similar situation.

after reading 3 books in VHDL, I highly recommend:
1- only the first chapter of this book
2- Circuit Design with VHDL by Pedroni
3- some examples from "Design Recipes for FPGAs" by Wilson

Strong introduction to VHDL and DSD
This book provides a very good introduction to VHDL and digital systems design.The material is presented well, and the larger designs in the back of the book are pretty useful.

The 2nd edition has some pretty nice changes from the 1st edition, particularly in some of the designs throughout the book.The material -- the presentation and layout -- is basically the same.However, it's worth buying this edition due to the changes in the designs.

a good book for non-beginner
After an absence of not doing logic design for 20 years, I want to pick up the trade again. I selected this book. It turns out to be an EXCELLENT choice. In one chapter, the author reviews everything I learned 20 yearsago on combinational and sequential logic. He then introduces VHDL to modelboth kinds of logic. From then on logic design is done with VHDL andimplemented with programmable gate arrays. I would recommend this book topeople who have studied a beginning logic design book such as Mano's. ... Read more

Product Description
An open process of restandardization, conducted by the IEEE,has led to the definitions of the new VHDL standard. The changes makeVHDL safer, more portable, and more powerful. VHDL also becomes biggerand more complete. The canonical simulator of VHDL is enriched by newmechanisms, the predefined environment is more complete, and thesyntax is more regular and flexible. Discrepancies and known bugs ofVHDL'87 have been fixed. However, the new VHDL'92 is compatible withVHDL'87, with some minor exceptions.
This book presents the new VHDL'92 for the VHDL designer. New featuresar explained and classified. Examples are provided, each new featureis given a rationale and its impact on design methodology, andperformance is analysed. Where appropriate, pitfalls and traps areexplained.
The VHDL designer will quickly be able to find the feature needed toevaluate the benefits it brings, to modify previous VHDL'87 code tomake it more efficient, more portable, and more flexible.
VHDL'92 is the essential update for all VHDL designers andmanagers involved in electronic design.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

a well-detailed book, comparing vhdl '93 vis-a-vis vhdl 87
This book descrives all the changes, additions andmodifications made in vhdl language in 1993.Every change/addition has it's own chapter, in which the author explains the rationale behind thechange/addition and illustrates them with a fewexamples.A good book for ppl. who want to know all thedifferences between vhdl '87 and vhdl '93.The title is a sort of misnomer, as latest version of vhdl was finally balloted in '93, andhence is called vhdl '93 and not vhdl '92 !! ... Read more

Product Description
Improvement in the quality of integrated circuit designs and adesigner's productivity can be achieved by a combination of twofactors:+ Using more structured designmethodologies for extensive reuse of existing components andsubsystems. It seems that 70% of new designs correspond to existingcomponents that cannot be reused because of a lack of methodologiesand tools.+ Providing higher level design tools allowing to startfrom a higher level of abstraction. After the success and thewidespread acceptance of logic and RTL synthesis, the next step isbehavioral synthesis, commonly called architectural or high-levelsynthesis. Behavioral Synthesis and Component Reuse with VHDL providesmethods and techniques for VHDL based behavioral synthesis andcomponent reuse. The goal is to develop VHDL modeling strategies foremerging behavioral synthesis tools. Special attention is given tostructured and modular design methods allowing hierarchical behavioralspecification and design reuse. The goal of this book is not todiscuss behavioral synthesis in general or to discuss a specific toolbut to describe the specific issues related to behavioral synthesis ofVHDL description. This book targets designers who have to use behavioral synthesis toolsor who wish to discover the real possibilities of this emergingtechnology. The book will also be of interest to teachers and studentsinterested to learn or to teach VHDL based behavioral synthesis. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Very helpful
I found that it is very useful book to understand the concepts. ... Read more

Product Description
Up-to-date introduction to today's leading approach to hardware design synthesis using a hardware description language and today's leading synthesis tools. CD-ROM included. DLC: VHDL (Computer hardware description language) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Find a better book!
This is a piss poor book. There are two main ways in which this book is inadequate: the physical makeup of the book itself, and the content of the book.

Physical Book
My book (along with a few friends from class) is very poorly put together. The binding is very rigid. This means that you have to break the binding in order to get the book to lay open. It looks like the publisher bound the inside pages of the book with one type of glue, then slapped the cover on with an excessive amount of a very stiff glue that does not allow the binding to flex at all.

The figures all look like they were scanned in off of a piece of paper on the worlds lowest quality scanner (they might have even been faxed), then reprinted in the book.

The printer used to print the book must have actually been a low quality photocopier because things that should be solid black are blotchy and unevenly printed.

On the first page of the book, it tells you that it used to come with a CD. Now it's been replaced with a general reference to a website that is difficult to navigate. The website it directs you to isn't for the book, it's for the publisher. In order to find the book, I suggest typing the ISBN number into the search box. Then you have to figure out how to convince it that you already bought the book and are trying to get to the CD contents.

Content
There are more than too many typographical errors for a competent editor to have looked at this book. Also, a lot of the code examples given have incorrect syntax or semantics. The book claims it was copyrighted in 2000, but doesn't list previous copyrights. I would be willing to bet the original book was copyrighted around 1990.

The problems included with the chapters get very in depth and lengthy (and downright stupid). Unfortunately for the book, I have an incompetent professor who assigns problems without looking into the amount of effort required. We've been given assignments where we're expected to design a processor in only a week.

Summary
If this book is required for your class, I feel sorry for you. You probably should buy the book so you can do the homework the professor assigns. If you're looking for a reference for your personal use, I suggest going elsewhere.

A complete treatment
This is a good book to get if you want to know what is involved with designing chips today using VHDL. It starts slowly, first establishing a taxonomy for the design process and very carefully defining its terms, then picks up as it moves into more depth. Combined with a good book dedicated to synthesis and a VHDL language reference (I recommend Chang for the former, Ashenden for the latter) you can come away with a very good understanding of VHDL and its uses.

Things that would have made it better are appendices with the NUMERIC_STD libraries and STD_LOGIC libraries detailed. A bit more depth in the synthesis area and some answers to at least some of the chapter questions in the back. Thus if you are teaching yourself VHDL as I am you will need to talk to a VHDL expert to verify your understanding.

With all that being said, I have no reservations recommending this book. You can probably skip chapters 1 & 2 if you are not a beginner and jump in at chapter 3. The use of comercially available FPGA design boards was a plus as well since I could "follow along" with the examples. Now if I could only find the student guide/lab book ...

Wonderful Book for Electronic Engineer
For the new beginner or senior engineer in electronic field, learn this new knowlegde is essential. ... Read more

Product Description
VHDL (VHSIC Hardware Description Language) is a hardware programming language commonly used for FPGA (Field Programable Gate Array) or ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) designs. FPGAs and the like are often found within larger applications such as cell phones, medical imagers, and personal media devices. As these devices are becoming more ubiquitous so the need for engineers fluent in VHDL design grows. Engineers commonly face an immediate need to learn a language or technique quickly and this book answers that requirement. Bill Kafig of industry leader Xilinx, swiftly brings the reader up to speed on techniques and functions commonly used as well as commands and data management. Extensive simple, complete designs are accompany the content for maximum comprehension. The book concludes with a section on design re-use which is of utmost importance to today's engineer that needs to meet a deadline and lower costs per unit.

*Gets you up to speed with VHDL fast, reducing time to market and driving down costs

Product Description
Formal Semantics and Proof Techniques for Optimizing VHDLModels presents a formal model of VHDL that clearly specifies boththe static and dynamic semantics of VHDL. It provides a mathematicalframework for representing VHDL constructs and shows how thoseconstructs can be formally manipulated to reason about VHDL. Thedynamic semantics is presented as a description of what the simulationof VHDL means. In particular it specifies what values the signals of aVHDL description will take if the description were to be executed. Anadvantage of the approach is that the semantic model can be used tovalidate different simulation algorithms. The book also presents anembedding of the dynamic semantics in a proof checker which is thenused to prove equivalences of classes of VHDL descriptions. Formal Semantics and Proof Techniques for Optimizing VHDL Modelsis written for hardware designers who are interested in the formalsemantics of VHDL. ... Read more

Product Description
It is recognized that formal design and verification methodsare an important requirement for the attainment of high quality systemdesigns. The field has evolved enormously during the last few years,resulting in the fact that formal design and verification methods arenowadays supported by several tools, both commercial and academic. If different tools and users are to generate and read the samelanguage then it is necessary that the same semantics is assigned bythem to all constructs and elements of the language. The current IEEEstandard VHDL language reference manual (LRM) tries to define VHDL aswell as possible in a descriptive way, explaining the semantics inEnglish. But rigor and clarity are very hard to maintain in asemantics defined in this way, and that has already given rise to manymisconceptions and contradictory interpretations.FormalSemantics for VHDL is the first book that puts forward a cohesiveset of semantics for the VHDL language. The chapters describe severalsemantics each based on a different underlying formalism: two of themuse Petri nets as target language, and two of them higher order logic.Two use functional concepts, and finally another uses the concept ofevolving algebras.Formal Semantics for VHDL is essentialreading for researchers in formal methods and can be used as a textfor an advanced course on the subject. ... Read more

Product Description
VHDL is the most widespread standard for hardware description. From its initial applications in simulation and ASIC description, VHDL is now being used in a wide range of applications at all levels, from system down to gate. The applications, which include synthesis and formal proof, make VHDL a design support tool as well as a deliverable. The use of VHDL implies a new approach to design. The VHDL Designer's Reference offers engineers and students practical help in addressing real problems encountered when implementing and using VHDL in their companies or research laboratories. It is thus a valuable reference for all practising designers. Intended for the experienced designer, VHDL Designer's Reference discusses modeling issues, design methods, efficiency tricks and portability traps. It also compares VHDL with other hardware description languages such as M, Verilog, and UDL/I. This complete reference provides a resource to help improve the designer's use of VHDL. ... Read more

Product Description
VHDL and FPLDs in Digital Systems Design, Prototyping andCustomization treats three aspects of digital systems: design,prototyping and customization, in an integrated manner using twotechnologies. The two technologies are VHSIC Hardware DescriptionLanguage (VHDL) and Field-Programmable Logic Devices (FPLDs). VHDL isused for modeling and specification; FPLDs are used forimplementation. VHDL and FPLDs in Digital Systems Design, Prototyping andCustomization is divided into three parts. Part I provides anintroduction to the basic features of VHDL with emphasis on modelingand design. All types of VHDL models including behavioral, structuraland dataflow models are presented. Part 2 is a bridge to designing andprototyping using FPLDs as the prototyping and implementationtechnology. Part 3 contains a number of examples and case studies thatdemonstrate the effectiveness of using VHDL and FPLDs in the design ofreal systems. VHDL and FPLDs in Digital Systems Design, Prototyping andCustomization is an invaluable comprehensive reference for thedigital designer. This work includes examples and software tied toreal-world FPLDs. The reader can see how the material presentedapplies to real-world devices and can experiment with the software.Also included are large-scale designs like the FLIX microcomputer thatdemonstrates the power of VHDL. CD-ROM INCLUDED! VHDL AND FPLDS IN DIGITAL SYSTEMS DESIGN, PROTOTYPING ANDCUSTOMIZATION includes a CD-ROM that contains Altera's MAX+PLUSII 7.21 Student Edition Programmable Logic Development Software.MAX+PLUS II is a fully integrated design environment that offersunmatched flexibility and performance. The intuitive graphicalinterface is complemented by complete and instantly accessible on-linedocumentation, which makes learning and using MAX+PLUS II quick andeasy. The MAX+PLUS II version 7.21 Student Edition offers thefollowing features:*Operates on PCs runningWindows 3.1, Windows 95 and Windows NT 3.51 and 4.0.*Graphicaland text-based design entry, including the Altera Hardware DescriptionLanguage (AHDL) and VHDL.*Design compilation for Product-term(MAX 7000S) and look-up table (FLEX 10K) device architectures.* Design verification with full timing simulation. ... Read more

Product Description
The emergence of VHDL as a standard for hardware descriptionlanguages helped disseminate the use of such languages among ICdesigners. The creation of the standard however does not mean that allwork has ceased. Research continues in the use of the language and onimprovements of the standard.
This book presents the latest research on four key issues related tothe use of VHDL. The first part covers simulation of circuits usingVHDL, in which timing and switching are central themes. Part II looksat the combination of synthesis and VHDL in designing circuits. Thisincludes a case study of chip design using silicon 1076. Advances inthe formal verification of VHDL designs are given in Part III. Thisrelatively new area in the use of VHDL is developing rapidly into animportant issue for speeding the design of circuits. The final partconsiders modelling issues and system level design.
The contributors are based on specially selected papers from theEURO-VHDL conferences in 1990 and 1991. These papers have been updatedand expanded to give the reader the very latest state-of-the-art inthe use of VHDL for circuit design.
... Read more