Getting Started with FPGAs

FPGAs are reprogrammable integrated circuits used in everything from hardware hacking and hobbyist electronics to aerospace engineering, video processing, and high-frequency stock trading. They're fast, powerful, and incredibly flexible, but they have a notoriously steep bar of entry. This book lowers the bar, providing a straightforward introduction to working with FPGAs, without unnecessary jargon or complexity.

Exploring FPGAs from the bottom up, it starts with a look at the basics of digital logic and the fundamental components that make up FPGAs: look-up tables and flip-flops. You'll quickly see why understanding how these components work together is critical to thinking like an FPGA designer. As the chapters progress, you'll learn how to master higher-level FPGA concepts, like state machines and crossing clock domains, while working on increasingly sophisticated hands-on projects. Loaded with thoroughly annotated, downloadable code examples in both Verilog and VHDL--the two most popular FPGA programming languages-- you will come away with the confidence and experience to pursue your own FPGA projects.