VHDL may sound like a new Internet language, but it really stands for VHSIC (Very High Speed Integrated Circuit) Hardware Definition Language. VHDL borrows ideas from software engineering (architectural, behavior, and formal models, as well as modular design) and used to design integrated circuit custom today, from mobile phones to microwave ovens and even the CPU. Peter Ashenden of The Designer's Guide to VHDL shows you how to use this language to write a hardware design, which can then be tested in a simulator before the "synthesis" into an actual hardware design in silicon. The book begins with the basics of VHDL, which, like language software, has keywords, operators, control flow statements, and programming conventions. Appendix includes the Institute of Electrical and Electronics (IEEE) Engineering enhancements to VHDL, which has increased the power of the design language.