The book emphasizes the concepts that should be covered in an introductory course on logic design, focusing on: <UL> <LI>Logic functions, gates, and rules of Boolean algebra <LI>Circuit synthesis and optimization techniques <LI>Number representation and arithmetic circuits <LI>Combinational-circuit building blocks, such as multiplexers, decoders, encoders, and code converters <LI>Sequential-circuit building blocks, such as flip-flops, registers, and counters <LI>Design of synchronous sequential circuits <LI>Use of the basic building blocks in designing larger systems
It also includes chapters that deal with important, but more advanced topics: <UL> <LI>Design of asynchronous sequential circuits <LI>Testing of logic circuits For students who have had no exposure to basic electronics, but are interested in learning a few key concepts, there is a chapter that presents the most basic aspects of electronic implementation of digital circuits.
Major changes in the second edition of the book include <UL> <LI>new examples to clarify the presentation of fundamental concepts <LI>over 50 new examples of solved problems provided at the end of chapters <LI>NAND and NOR gates now introduced in Chapter 2 <LI>more complete discussion of techniques for minimization of logic functions in Chapter 4 (including the tabular method) <LI>a new chapter explaining the CAD flow for synthesis of logic circuits <LI>Altera's Quartus II CAD software provided on a CD-ROM <LI>three appendices that give tutorials on the use of Quartus II software
]]>VHDL is used to demonstrate how the basic building blocks and larger systems are defined in a hardware description language, producing designs that can be implemented with modern CAD tools. The book emphasizes CAD through the use of Altera's Quartus II CAD software, a state-of-the-art digital circuit design package. This software produces automatic mapping of designs written in VHDL into Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) and Complex Programmable Logic Devices (CPLDs).
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