The Three Programming Languages That Make FPGA So Powerful

FPGA, as a leading chip product in China, is not limited to purely researching and designing chips like traditional chips, but optimizes designs for products across various fields through specific chip models.FPGA itself constitutes a typical semi-custom circuit, covering digital management modules, input, output, and other units.

The biggest feature of FPGA is that it can input different programming data on the same chip, thereby producing different functions and effects, and can change circuit logic by altering its gate array. Compared to other chips, it is more flexible and plays an important role in many fields.

Such a powerful FPGA mainly utilizes three programming languages: Verilog HDL, VHDL, and SystemVerilog.

1、Verilog HDL is a hardware description language that mainly describes the structure and behavior of digital systems in textual form. By using Verilog HDL, one can express logic circuit diagrams, logical expressions, and more; it is also applied in various digital system modeling from algorithm level to gate level.

The biggest feature of Verilog HDL is its ease of learning and use. If one has programming experience in C, they can quickly learn and master it in a short period. Therefore, Verilog HDL content can be arranged within courses related to ASIC design and others. Since HDL languages are specifically aimed at hardware and system design, this arrangement allows learners to gain experience in designing actual circuits. In comparison, learning VHDL can be somewhat more challenging. However, the relatively free syntax of Verilog HDL can also lead beginners to make some mistakes, which should be noted.

2、VHDL is a high-level language for circuit design, which translates to “Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language” in Chinese. It is mainly used in the field of digital circuits, and besides containing various hardware feature statements, the description style of VHDL is quite similar to that of high-level programming languages. Its biggest features are powerful functionality and strong design flexibility, with multi-level design capabilities, wide support, ease of modification, and easy sharing and reuse.

3、SystemVerilog is a relatively new language, primarily built on the foundation of Verilog, combining hardware description language (HDL) with modern high-level verification languages (HVL) to become the next generation of hardware design and verification language. Besides being applied as a high-level language for abstract modeling, another significant feature of SystemVerilog is its ability to integrate with chip verification methodologies, serving as a language tool for implementing methodologies. Using verification methodologies can greatly enhance module reusability, improve chip development efficiency, and shorten development cycles. Some well-known chip verification methodologies include: VMM, OVM, AVM, and UVM.