Hardware description languages (HDLs) are indeed like
programming languages but not the same. We utilize a programming language to
build or create software, whereas we use a hardware description language to
describe or express the behavioral characteristics of digital logic circuits.
We utilize HDLs for designing processors, motherboards, CPUs
(i.e., computer chips), as well as various other digital circuitry.
HDLs are standard text-based expressions of the
structure of electronic systems and their behavior over time. Like concurrency programming languages, HDL syntax and semantics include explicit notations
for expressing concurrency. However, in contrast to most software programming languages, HDLs also include an explicit notion of time, which is a
primary attribute of hardware. Languages whose only characteristic is to
express circuit connectivity between a hierarchy of blocks are properly
classified as netlist languages used in electric computer-aided design. HDL can be used to express designs in structural, behavioral,
or register-transfer-level architectures for the same circuit functionality; in
the latter two cases, the synthesizer decides the
architecture and logic gate layout.
HDLs are used to write executable specifications for
hardware. A program designed to implement the underlying semantics of the
language statements and simulate the progress of time provides the hardware
designer with the ability to model a piece of hardware before it is created
physically. It is this executability that gives HDLs the illusion of
being programming languages when they are more precisely classified as specification languages or modeling languages. Simulators capable
of supporting discrete-event (digital) and continuous-time (analog) modeling
exist, and HDLs targeted for each are available.
Bibliography
Li, X.,
Tiwari, M., Oberg, J., Kashyap, V., Chong, F. T., Sherwood, T., &
Hardekopf, B. (2011). Caisson: a hardware description language for secure
information flow. Sigplan Notices, 46(6), 109-120. Retrieved 10 24,
2022, from http://users.ece.utexas.edu/~tiwari/pubs/pldi-11-caisson.pdf
Hey Ayesha, nice work. I really like your background. I think it's fascinating how HDL works as it's own language in the tech world. Like you mentioned this software langauage provides specific instructions to perform a specific task. This software is super handy in the tech world.
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