Customer Reviews

VHDL Starter's Guide

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a great book to teach yourself VHDL. I use this book along with the a microprocessor course that used Xilinx to teach myself VHDL. This book did wonders to get me started and familiar with the structure of VHDL. It also helped me get a new job in the industry of processor design. This book only uses the standard libraries: ieee.std_logic_1164.all, textio and standard

This book is exactly what it says it is: a VHDL Staters Guide. It is a great way to get started in VHDL, i'm finding this book clearly written, useful and interesting. This book has an emphisis on SIMULATION of VHDL, instead of SYTHESIS. This means that you don't need any silicon to start learning VHDL. However you will probably want another book on VHDL Systhesis as well, as you might want more in-depth information about sythesis. However this book is a great starting point, and clearly explains the syntax of VHDL and how to use it properly. VHDL is such a huge and powerful area that one 265 page book won't explain everything, but is a great way to begin!

I know there are many hardware design engineers and students who suffer from "VHDL anxiety" since it tends to seem alot less intuitive than verilog (especially in this age when C has surpassed ada as a common programming language taught at universities). For this reason Yalamanchili's VHDL Starter's Guide represents a nice contribution to the field. There is enough material in the guide to satisfy, say a senior computer-engineering student who is being intorduced for the first time.

My only complaint about the book is its lack of appendices and specification of the entire language. So look somewhere else if this is the purpose for buying a VHDL book. However, as a place to start, it seems quite effective in developing the confidence needed to move on to the more technical aspects of synthesis and simulation.

By the way, the author has written a thicker introductory hardcover book on VHDL published by Prentice Hall. The title is different, but it is virtually the same content. Little if anything was changed from that book to this starter guide. So be careful.

It is a good introduction to the VHDL language and VHDL simulation. I was disapointed with the lack synthesis discussion: how the different VHDL constructs can effect gate count and timing.

This is one of the best sources to start learning VHDL. The concepts are covered and explained well. Examples are excellent. Covers most of the features in a few pages. Figures need some improvement in terms of placement.

Mr Yalamanchili does a great job of introducing the reader to VHDL. The book is long enough to get you to understand the VHDL language, without being so long as to bore you to tears. After reading the book, I feel that I could design most any simple-medium complexity digital circuit in VHDL without much difficulty. My only complaint is the author's poor indenting of his code. This makes it difficult at times to follow the flow of his code. Other than this minor flaw, the book is perfect.

I have over 10 years of electronics design experience but have never used VHDL (CUPL and ABLE, yes). This book seems like it was written not by a hardware designer, but a by a programmer. Starting with zero knowledge of VHDL, his examples are hard to follow, and coding style is not consistant leading to confusion. I downladed a free tutorial program from Aldec.com and it has helped my understanding of the book GREATLY. In fact, it turns out the author references Aldec's Active-HDL simulator in appendix A.

To Mr. Yalamanchili's credit, he does clearly state in his book, on page x of the preface, that this is supposed to be a supplementary text.

I would recommend another book if you want to buy a "VHDL for Total Noobs" type that could also serve as a reference later on.

Also, a glossary would have helped greatly.

The book, in general, is very well written. Good examples, simple to follow explanations. True 'starting guide'. Seller - on-time shipment, item received in the expected condition.