This book represents an attempt to treat three aspects of digital
systems, design, prototyping and customization, in an integrated manner
using two major technologies: VHSIC Hardware Description Language (VHDL)
as a modeling and specification tool, and Field-Programmable Logic
Devices (FPLDs) as an implementation technology. They together make a
very powerful combination for complex digital systems rapid design and
prototyping as the important steps towards manufacturing, or, in the
case of feasible quantities, they also provide fast system
manufacturing. Combining these two technologies makes possible
implementation of very complex digital systems at the desk. VHDL has
become a standard tool to capture features of digital systems in a form
of behavioral, dataflow or structural models providing a high degree of
flexibility. When augmented by a good simulator, VHDL enables extensive
verification of features of the system under design, reducing
uncertainties at the latter phases of design process. As such, it
becomes an unavoidable modeling tool to model digital systems at various
levels of abstraction.