VHDL: A Starter's Guide, 2/e

Description:

For sophomore/junior-level courses in Digital/Logic and Digital Design Laboratory.

 

For schools that wish to introduce VHDL into their undergraduate computer engineering sequence, VHDL is a complex language that is worthy of a dedicated course; yet this is not a practical option in most institutions.  This companion text enables instructors to integrate the basic concepts of VHDL into existing courses.  It is designed to develop an intuition and a structured way of thinking about VHDL models without spending a great deal of time on advanced language features.  Yalamanchili gives students a thorough grounding in the basic concepts and language of VHDL, and encourages them to apply what they have learned using realistic examples.  Concepts are followed by examples and tutorials.

 

 

Table of Contents:

1.  Introduction.

1.1  What is VHDL?

1.2  Digital System Design.

1.3  The Marketplace.

1.4  The Role of Hardware Description Languages.

1.5  Chapter Summary.

 

2.  Modeling Digital Systems.

2.1  Motivation.

2.2  Describing Systems.

2.3  Events, Propagation Delays, and Concurrency.

2.4  Waveforms and Timing.

2.5  Signal Values.

2.6  Shared Signals.

2.7  Simulating Hardware Descriptions.

2.8  Chapter Summary.

 

3.  Basic Language Concepts.

3.1  Signals.

3.2  Entity-Architecture.

3.3  Concurrent Statements.

3.4  Constructing VHDL Models Using CSAs.

3.5  Understanding Delays.

3.6  Chapter Summary.

 

4.  Modeling Behaviors.

4.1  The Process Construct.

4.2  Programming Constructs.

4.3  More on Processes.

4.4  The Wait Statement.

4.5  Attributes.

4.6  Generating Clocks and Periodic Waveforms.

4.7  Using Signals in a Process.

4.8  Modeling State Machines.

4.9  Constructing VHDL Models Using Processes.

4.10  Common Programming Errors.

4.11  Chapter Summary.

 

5.  Modeling Structure.

5.1  Describing Structure.

5.2  Constructing Structural VHDL Models.

5.3  Hierarchy, Abstraction, and Accuracy.

5.4  Generics.

5.5  The Generate Statement.

5.6  Configurations.

5.7  Common Programming Errors.

5.8  Chapter Summary.

 

6.  Subprograms, Packages, and Libraries.

6.1  Essentials of Functions.

6.2  Essentials of Procedures.

6.3  Subprogram and Operator Overloading.

6.4  Essentials of Packages.

6.5  Essentials of Libraries.

6.6  Chapter Summary.

 

7.  Basic Input/Output.

7.1  Basic Input/Output Operations.

7.2  The Package TEXTIO.

7.3  Testbenches in VHDL.

7.4  ASSERT Statement.

7.5  A Testbench Template.

7.6  Chapter Summary.

 

8.  Simulation Mechanics.

8.1  Terminology and Directory Structure.

8.2  Simulation Steps.

8.3  Chapter Summary.

 

9.  Identifiers, Data Types, and Operators.

9.1  Identifiers.

9.2  Data Objects.

9.3  Data Types.

9.4  Operators.

9.5  Chapter Summary.

 

References.

 

Appendix A.  Active-HDL Tutorial.

A.1  Using Active VHDL.

A.2  Miscellaneous Features.

A.3  Chapter Summary.

 

Appendix B.  Standard VHDL Packages.

B.1  Package STANDARD.

B.2  Package TEXTIO.

B.3  The Standard Logic Package.

B.4  Other Useful Packages.

 

Appendix C.  A Starting Program Template.

C.1  Construct Schematic.

C.2  Construct The Behavioral Model.

 

Index.