Chu (Cleveland State University) has written several volumes covering Verilog and VHDL, the two major hardware definition languages used in the design of smaller digital systems. The volume reviewed here is an introduction to Verilog only. The book assumes that the student is already familiar with basic digital circuits. After an introductory section, the remainder of the work consists of worked examples that should be quite easily understood by students. Each chapter ends with suggested exercises that build directly on the examples from that chapter. There are sections that are specific to Xilinx Spartan FPGAs and in some cases, specific to the Digilent S3 prototyping board. A course that uses different hardware would need to provide supplementary material before using this book as a resource. Chu writes in a pedagogically sound manner and includes good coverage of the Verilog language, with nice attention to the differences between the 1995 and 2001 versions of the language. The volume suffers from some sloppy editing (e.g., a reference to VHDL instead of Verilog in one place, an incorrect timing parameter value in the appendix, miscellaneous typos) and a very skimpy index. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduate through professional collections. — C. Vickery, Queens College of CUNY (Choice, February 2009)
From the Back Cover
A hands-on introduction to Verilog synthesis and FPGA prototyping
Hardware Descriptive Language (HDL) and Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) devices allow designers to quickly develop and simulate a sophisticated digital circuit, realize it on a prototyping device, and verify the operation of its physical implementation. As these technologies have matured and become mainstream practice, it is now possible to use a PC and an inexpensive FPGA prototyping board to construct a complex digital system.
This book utilizes a “learn by doing” approach to introduce the concepts and techniques of Verilog and FPGA to designers through a series of hands-on experiments. “FPGA Prototyping by Verilog Examples” provides:
A collection of clear, easy-to-follow templates for quick code development
A large number of practical examples to illustrate and reinforce the concepts and design techniques
Realistic projects that can be implemented and tested on a Xilinx prototyping board
A thorough exploration of the Xilinx PicoBlaze soft-core microcontroller
Although the book is an introductory text, the examples are developed in a rigorous manner and the derivations follow strict design guidelines and coding practices used for large, complex systems. It lays a solid foundation for students and new engineers and prepares them for future development tasks. “FPGA Prototyping by Verilog Examples” is an indispensable companion text for digital design courses and also serves as a valuable self-teaching guide for practicing engineers who wish to learn more about this emerging area of interest.