What language is used for FPGA programming

As an FPGA beginner, there are a lot of questions when you first contact FPGA, like what is FPGA? What language is used for FGPA programming? When you learn about ASICs later, you will ask what is the difference between ASIC and FPGA and the principle of FPGA being faster than CPU and GPU. You can click on the link to enter Wikipedia about what FPGA is. FPGAKey will not be repeated. Today, I will focus on what language FPGA programming uses.

FPGAKey often sees many people asking if FPGA is developed in C language? According to our understanding, some companies focus on developing and solving the problem of compilers, so that they can replace the VHDL language with C language, and have also developed some development tools that support the programming of FPGA in C language. But the most used FPGA programming languages are Verilog and VHDL languages, and C language is generally not used for programming.

FPGA can be programmed and developed in VHDL and VERILOG languages. At present, Europe uses more VHDL, and the United States and Japan use VERILOG more. Moreover, VERILOG and C language are relatively close. If you are familiar with C, you can choose to use Verilog HDL The language, basic grammar and C are very similar and very flexible, VHDL language is relatively rigorous.

From FPGAKey's point of view, the differences between VHDL and VERILOG are not big, and their description capabilities are similar. For beginners, after mastering one of these languages, they can learn another language quickly through short-term learning. The choice of language mainly depends on the usage habits of the surrounding people, so that it can facilitate future learning and communication. Of course, if you are a professional integrated circuit designer, you must first master Verilog, because, in the field of IC design, more than 90% of companies use Verilog for IC design. For PLD/FPGA designers, two languages are free to choose from.

Designers carry out logic simulation and logic synthesis on HDL language through computers, to design digital circuits and products conveniently and efficiently.

Relatively speaking, VHDL is mostly used in Europe, which is characterized by rigorous logic and prudence. Verilog is more commonly used in the United States and is characterized by more flexible syntax. The two have little difference in grammatical composition, and they are generally common. The program written in VHDL may look bloated, but it will be more convenient for subsequent debugging and modification. You can choose the FPGA programming language according to your actual situation.

Regarding what language to use for FPGA programming, we will first introduce it here. Regarding how to use these two languages, you need to find relevant information or wait for FPGAKey to be updated later. The advice for beginners here is: start with VHDL, take into account Verilog in advance, and compare and learn from each other, which is more conducive to program understanding and writing. Interested in learning more about FPGA knowledge? You can look at technical tutorials and Wiki encyclopedias.