Circuit Design with VHDL (Hardcover)

by Volnei A. Pedroni (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
This textbook teaches VHDL using system examples combined with programmable logic and supported by laboratory exercises. While other textbooks concentrate only on language features, Circuit Design with VHDL offers a fully integrated presentation of VHDL and design concepts by including a large number of complete design examples, illustrative circuit diagrams, a review of fundamental design concepts, fully explained solutions, and simulation results. The text presents the information concisely yet completely, discussing in detail all indispensable features of the VHDL synthesis. The book is organized in a clear progression, with the first part covering the circuit level, treating foundations of VHDL and fundamental coding, and the second part covering the system level (units that might be located in a library for code sharing, reuse, and partitioning), expanding upon the earlier chapters to discuss system coding. Part I, "Circuit Design," examines in detail the background and coding techniques of VHDL, including code structure, data types, operators and attributes, concurrent and sequential statements and code, objects (signals, variables, and constants), design of finite state machines, and examples of additional circuit designs. Part II, "System Design," builds on the material already presented, adding elements intended mainly for library allocation; it examines packages and components, functions and procedures, and additional examples of system design. Appendixes on programmable logic devices (PLDs/FPGAs) and synthesis tools follow Part II. The book's highly original approach of teaching through extensive system examples as well as its unique integration of VHDL and design make it suitable both for use by students in computer science and electrical engineering.

About the Author
Volnei A. Pedroni earned his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Caltech. He is currently Professor of Electrical Engineering at CEFET-PR (Federal Center of Technological Education of Parana), Brazil.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 375 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press; illustrated edition edition (August 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262162245
• ISBN-13: 978-0262162241
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #19,735 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #1 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Programming > Software Design, Testing & Engineering > Logic
  #2 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Computer Science > Circuitry > Circuit Design
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars By far the best introductory book to circuit design with VHDL!, July 9, 2005

By	Pavel V. Kolinko "telenochek" (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am a physics graduate student who needed to learn VHDL for many of my projects (FPGA-based digital filters, FFT and other high speed digital-based processing).
After spending about a week trying to cookbook/copycat the complicated structures in VHDL I decided it would be best to start at a basic level to get a solid grasp of VHDL.
It is hard to imagine a better introduction.
The author did a perfect job integrating the routine software writing with system design.
All of the code is COMPLETE and all of it works (90% of it I checked myself, when going through examples & problems).
Simulations, complete code and clear diagrams are presented for every example!
If you need to do real engineering work using VHDL, and have a list of designs on your table that are begging for FPGA, ASIC, CPLDs, but don't know how to do it in VHDL, this book is for you.

Some cautionary notes:
1) This book gives you basic, but fundamental knowledge of VHDL. If you know other programming languages (for example assembler, Vis. Basic or C/C++), but need VHDL then after this book you can start writing real code and will be able to understand complicated examples and will easily be able to incorporate IP cores into projects.

Contrary to the opinion of some of the above reviewers, I disagree that this book is a cookbook. It doesn't have any really complicated design examples like FFT.
The book is all about giving the reader a very solid footing of VHDL so that the reader could reference other much more involved references/ code examples/ IP cores etc..

2) This book will be of very little use if you don't know
basic logic/ digital circuits.
The book explains things like carry lookahead adder clearly but very briefly.

3) I found the problems, examples and chapter very well connected. And the problems were very useful.
Note though that although the solutions to problems are provided only to instructors, you can rely on simulations to check if the your solution is correct.

4) I also think that it helps to have a development board (FPGA/CPLD)to check some of the designs.

All of the above is only my opinion, of course.
And thanks to Dr. Pedroni for sharing some of his expertise so well.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Book!, December 2, 2005

By	Mark John Roman - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I had a VHDL class where the text was basically a manual for the language. This book however, is like a VHDL for Dummies. It presents everything you need to know to model circuits in vhdl.
I was halfway through my vhdl class and had no idea what was going on. This book cleaned me right up.
Again, what a great book!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential, indispensable, February 23, 2005

By	Mateja Putic (Charlottesville, VA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'm a fourth year computer engineering student, and I've found this book to be the best reference for VHDL fundamentals in my personal library. What this book offers is a concise reference. It's not very long, but it's very thorough. It's essentially a cookbook; there are lots and lots of examples with clear block logic diagrams which give you an overview of the architecture. In addition, each design has a test bench simulation, which is essential. Of course, each example has the VHDL implementation of the component, each with relevant, helpful comments within the code. There are even more complex examples, such as a vending machine control circuit and neural networks and more. If you're a beginner, the first few chapters will walk you through. If you're an expert, it can be used as reference, made easier by the excellent chapter organization. The appendices also show how to design, simulate, and lay out designs in several popular development software suites. This book is amazing. Do yourself a favor and add it to your library. Buy it now.