Topic #1 (Part 1): HDL - Intro

I have been recently learning about FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays) and HDL. Since I was an EE major at UNH, I didn't have the opportunity to add an HDL course into my tightly packed undergraduate studies. The concept of the FPGA has always intrigued me and I saw a lot of promise with applying my interests in DIP (digital image processing) and Neural Networks to an FPGA.

For those unfamiliar with FPGAs, the name refers to the fact that these chips contain an array of gates that can act as logic or memory and they are programmable out in the field (as opposed to only being configured at the manufacturing site). FPGAs use hardware description languages (HDL) such as VHDL and Verilog to define the physical routing in the chip. So instead of designing a circuit that is static and has a specific range of applications, an FPGA can be totally reconfigured/programmed to do virtually anything that is physically realizable.

Anyways, this has been an on going project for myself that I started last summer. I have learned a considerable amount but there is still A LOT more to learn. Stay tuned for more on this. I will be providing some information on both VHDL and Verilog; hopefully, I will have adaquate information to give a brief comparison between the two languages. Also, in the furture I will be discussing one of my larger projects that I have been working on in HDL.

Here are some wiki links to get you up to speed on this topic:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field-programmable_gate_array
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VHDL
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verilog

And it begins...

Well I have finally decided to start a blog due to some request by my friends wanting me to share my knowledge. My goal for this blogger will be to provide tech savvy people or people that are just interested in technology with what is going on with me and some of my projects, as well as a helpful reminder to myself how to do certain things (i.e. special Matlab commands that have proven useful). I am usually very active with technology and constantly exploring areas. I hope this will be very informative and technical enough to provide insight to new electrical engineers but verbose enough to give an every day geek enough information to get started on his/her project.