VHDL links design, test, and maintenance

The authors discuss the very high-speed integrated circuit (VHSIC) hardware description language (VHDL), a universal HDL that is being adopted for design tools throughout the electronics industry in the wake of its December 1987 approval as IEEE Standard 1076-1987. The main purpose of VHDL is to allow designers to model, synthesize, and simulate components, chips, and systems from the most abstract behavioral level through logic gates. The authors briefly consider some existing HDLs, examine some VHDL tools that are now in use in industry and at universities, describe the benefits of VHDL, and relate the experiences of some users.<>