Verilog by Example: A Concise Introduction for FPGA Design

I'm not one who feels like a technical book has to be 500 pages to be of value. In fact the larger the book the more skeptical I am that it will do a good job of providing the information I'm looking for. I'm a software engineer who dabbled with Verilog/FPGA a decade ago, went on to other things, and is now returning to it and wanting a refresher. Back then I had to buy (and still own) large digital logic design textbooks to get the most basic practical information about designing for FPGA. This time around and by now I was hoping there would be some materials targeted towards people like me who just want the distilled fundamentals but a few grades above Verilog For Dummies. I found it in this book. A "concise introduction to Verilog by example" was music to my ears and in my opinion the book delivers just that. It's the straight dope without hand-holding with what I believe is a very good presentation. I think the text-diagram-example pacing is near perfect and I appreciate that the diagrams are also concise and meaningful unlike so many other mass media technical books where they are space filler. I also appreciate how the code examples directly reinforce the text and diagrams. In short, I think this is a well-crafted little book that was not more or less than what I was expecting and WELL worth the $20. It will have a permanent home on my shelf with my other favorite little books (the Effectives, the Makes, K&R C, Forrest Mims, etc).

Verilog is a rich and powerful hardware description language. Translation: it's easy to get flummoxed trying to figure out what is important. The author states that this is the book he wished he had when he started using Verilog, and I see why. It is a simple, step-by-step introduction to the language that takes you from defining your first module - the hardware equivalent of "Hello World" - through the basics of test benches. Not an exhaustive pedagogical treatment by any means, but well worth the investment if you are a student or practitioner that needs to get up to speed with the language quickly. Especially if, like me, you learn best through examples. I would really like to see if he has a "Part 2" with more advanced concepts.

I really like this book. Such a joy to read from time to time. It has digestible examples, covering a few pages, so you can consume them one at a time, look at the code, read the explanation, and take a breaks in between. I have never programmed FPGA. I've been trained for, and worked with conventional programming languages for over 20 years. This book did have some EE thinking, which gave me a chuckle, but nothing distracting. The author didn't need to explain why arrays start at 0, and go to n-1 for example. This book let me see what FPGA is about without getting in too deep. I have other texts and loose interest after a few pages because they are too advanced, but this one is written so you can read it from time to time at your leisure.

The review headline says it best -- the title accurately describes the book; it is a concise introduction to FPGA design. The author touches on each of the topics in the table of contents just long enough to have you vaguely acquianted with them, and does not spend even another word more than is needed. This book has a tenth of the rigor of any textbook and the author assumes you understand the basics of circuits/electronics at a college freshman level. Like I said, take the title of the book literally and you will be pleased. This book is short enough to read in one sitting, is not extremely mentally strenous and yet it gives you enough information to have a reasonably intelligent conversation with someone who programs FPGAs for a living. Once you're done reading this book, you will want to go out and read a real 850-page textbook on FPGA design.

This book follows the C programming classic in that it illustrates the language by way of a rich set of examples. The order of learning within this book properly builds upon itself in that each chapter makes no assumptions about what the reader needs to know. The examples are non-trivial and assist the reader into learning the general concept presented. These examples are very realistic and represent actual implementations that will be of interest to the reader. You will have created these circuits before and this book tells you in clear terms how to do it in Verilog.

I am trying to learn a bit about FPGA's in my limited spare time, and while I haven't finished this book yet, my impression is that this is probably the best introduction that I will find. It is concise and yet accessible, and slim rather than overwhelming in volume. Instead of making you walk through vendor-specific setup wizards that implement some CPU analog on your FPGA with the click of a button, this book begins with the most fundamental concepts, rationales, syntax rules, and code examples of FPGA programming in Verilog, building from there. Hindsight is always 20/20, and the author's express purpose was to utilize his learning experience to write the kind of introductory book that he wished he had had 20 years ago when he started out as a novice. I congratulate him to this approach.

This is a pretty good place to start learning Verilog. It only covers the bare minimum to get you going, but you'll at least be able to figure out where to go once you're finished. It isn't focused on any particular FPGA, so you'll want to also have some documentation for your particular FPGA, which hopefully you can find somewhere online. My one gripe is that I didn't feel like the different kinds of assignment were explained very well. There are probably a few other things where you'll end up needing to look in other places for a more complete explanation. But again, I think the book does a pretty good job of getting you pointed in the right direction.

Provides both examples, explanation as well as practical tips. Dictates a fast pace and does not take the reader an idiot. It's a very good book for people with existing programming experience.

This is the best book to learn FPGAs, in this book the author makes use of his linguistic resources to write in good English and explains the concepts with mastery. Other authors need 500 pages to explain what Mr. Readler explains in just 100 pages. In this book, each line or paragraph explains or teaches something important. I wish I could have a 500-page book on verilog by the same author. I admire him. Thank you for sharing part of your mastery in the world of FPGAs.

Ce livre aborde de façon simple les principes du verilog. Il se lit facilement pour peu que l'on ai un bagage minimum en anglais technique. L'auteur illustre ses exemples de façon clair et aborde un large panel de cas sans toute fois rentrer trop dans les détails. Je suis novice, donc je ne sais pas dire si c'est un excellent ouvrage ou pas, mais il permet de donner confiance et de vouloir se lancer. En cas de question je serais ravi de vous répondre si vous ne trouvez pas la réponse dans la description. Le partage d'expérience est pour moi essentiel et fait la force du commerce en ligne (entre autre). Si vous appréciez ce commentaire et que cela vous aura été utile dans votre acte d'achat (ou pas), merci de ma le faire savoir en cliquant sur OUI ci-dessous. Cela me motive à continuer ainsi, voir à étoffer et développer mes commentaires.

Very well-developed introduction to Verilog, getting the reader fluent in reading and understanding existing documents very quickly. Also, the book was good value. The book will be an excellent reference book for the future.

I was looking for a book to help me familiarize with Verilog, being a VHDL designer. This book is exactly what I need: the chapters are focused on a single concept at time, the code provided as example is explained line by line and by the end of the explanation the concept will stick. What make me strongly suggest both this book and the author is the chapter on the Finite State Machine. It is not the usual theoretical chapter, when you are told the FSM are to be described as two or three processes. A real designer, who have been working on real projects, knows the FSM are synchronous objects and can be described with a single block. This made me exclaim:"Finally! A book based on real work". By the end of the book I could translate my VHDL codes in Verilog and see them work. It is not a complete verilog course, not it explain how digital design can be approached. It introduces Verilog and helps you write working code based on you previous experience, providing useful examples to rely on. It completely fulfills its goal.