Editing Hardware description language (section)

{{short description|Specialized computer language used to describe electronic circuits}}
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In [[computer engineering]], a '''hardware description language''' ('''HDL''') is a specialized [[computer language]] used to describe the structure and behavior of [[electronic circuit]]s, usually to design [[application-specific integrated circuit]]s (ASICs) and to program [[field-programmable gate array]]s (FPGAs).

A hardware description language enables a precise, [[Formal language|formal]] description of an electronic circuit that allows for the automated analysis and [[Electronic circuit simulation|simulation]] of the circuit. It also allows for the [[Logic synthesis|synthesis]] of an HDL description into a [[netlist]] (a specification of physical electronic components and how they are connected together), which can then be [[Place and route|placed and routed]] to produce the [[Mask set|set of masks]] used to create an [[integrated circuit]].

A hardware description language looks much like a [[programming language]] such as [[C (programming language)|C]] or [[ALGOL]]; it is a textual description consisting of expressions, statements and control structures. One important difference between most programming languages and HDLs is that HDLs explicitly include the notion of time.

HDLs form an integral part of [[electronic design automation]] (EDA) systems, especially for complex circuits, such as [[application-specific integrated circuit]]s, [[microprocessor]]s, and [[programmable logic device]]s.