FPGA Prototyping by VHDL Examples: Xilinx Spartan-3 Version

by Pong P. Chu

This book uses a "learning by doing" approach to introduce the HDL (hardware description languages) and FPGA development process to designers through a series of hands-on experiments. It includes a wide range of examples, from a simple gate-level circuit to an embedded system with an eight-bit soft-core microcontroller and customized I/O peripherals. All examples herein can be synthesized and physically tested on an actual FPGA prototyping board.

Genres: Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Science

469 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 2007

Reviews

[Nkavvadias · Rating 5 out of 5]

A pedantic book on RTL design with focus on ASMD/FSMD model of computation. Plus points that all chapters come with working (and workable code) and that it touches somewhat uncommon matters, e.g., the 8-bit PicoBlaze architecture. The book is not heavy on theory and the code is walked through. It is divided in three parts, a VHDL primer up to FSMD design, a cookbook on peripheral controller design and the PicoBlaze part.

Minus half point in that there is no coverage on high-performance FSMD, e.g., how to design in multiple process style. The one-big process style with embedded datapath operations is not the fastest style either, it is the easiest to understand but there could have been coverage for alternative design styles and their tradeoffs. Redact one more half point because the indexing is rather poor/incomplete and there is no extensive bibliography (albeit this is also common in other books in the field, especially the books targeting a graduate or practitioner audience). The older I get, the more I dependent on the index to guide me through, rather than the ToC.

The even better book from Prof. Chu is "RTL Hardware Design using VHDL" which is the one of the two best books on VHDL at the RTL+ level. The other one is the sadly long out of print, "HDL Chip Design".

[Shea Levy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as a refresher after a few years being away from VHDL, and it was a good choice for getting my feet wet again. Overall liked the emphasis on good design practices, thought the examples got a bit repetitive but that might have been less of an issue for someone completely new to the subject.

[Nate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Put me well on my way to building a t-rex robot with guns on his hands.

[Weruleindia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is awesome..

[George Eee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Somewhat hard but essential to understand Xilinx FPGAs and advanced digital design

[Angel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good introduction to FPGA design with neat examples.