Today we are aware of VHDL and Verilog. What about the HDLs before these. Please help in compiling a history. It would be better if we discuss critically merits and demerits of those HDLs including VHDL and Verilog.
http://www.freewebs.com/gurprasad/downloads/A%20Comparative%20analysis%20of%20Verilog%20HDL%20over%20VHDL.pdf
Please check this Sir.It Has few differences that are identified.
Dear Afaq Ahmad,
I think reviewing the two languages may not be exhaustive. There are other HDL languages as well - like the Advanced Boolean Expression Language (ABEL) that are pretty old but seem to be still in use. I would refer to the early HDL languages as "being influenced by..." other languages. This is the case with the VHDL that have been influenced by Ada and Pascal. The general trend line in the development of HDLs is the constant desire to adapt the software languages and the software approach to hardware designers. And this trend becomes more and more active with the growing complexity of the digital designs. (Actually, HDLs now include VHDL-AMS which is the VHDL plus an analog and mixed-signal extension AMS, but that's another story). So in general I would not constrain the discussion to VHDL and Verilog (which are the most common ones), but rather would discuss HDL and System Design Languages.
The oldest book that I am aware of (but unfortunately don't have it) is:
"Digital Systems: Hardware Organization and Design" (http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?arnumber=1672667)
Although not fully on the topic, I think these papers may also be useful somehow:
http://www.fpl.uni-kl.de/staff/hartenstein/lot/Higher_Level_Simulation.pdf
http://www.cs.columbia.edu/techreports/cucs-009-03.pdf.
Dear Dr. Yassen V. Gorbounov,
Digital Logic Design book by Morris Mano and ... is good for Verilog HDL.
Yes, the book by Morris Mano is very good - I have read it and learned alot about Verilog from it. But it is not as helpful from historical perspective.
Prof. Ahmad,
Here are some links I recently found regarding the history:
* 8 things you’ve probably forgotten about Programmable Logic
http://forums.xilinx.com/t5/Xcell-Daily-Blog/8-things-you-ve-probably-forgotten-about-Programmable-Logic/ba-p/446644
* How It Was: Programmable Logic
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=14&doc_id=1285577
* History of the ABEL project at Data I/O
http://www.swtpc.com/mholley/PLD_History/ABEL_project/ABEL_Memos.htm
Dear Dr. Yassen V. Gorbounov,
All the links which you provided are informative and useful.
The book by J. Bhaskar titled " A VHDL Primer" give detail description of HDL languages in 1st chapter.
There are so many HDLs before and after the invention of Verilog and VHDL. I will focus in the past of HDLs, because it is much easier to check newer versions of HDLs or even HVLs (Hardware Verification Languages). Some useful links and references for sharing the history of HDLs would be:
1) http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.471.3074&rep=rep1&type=pdf
2) http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.920.6692&rep=rep1&type=pdf (about ISPS)
3) http://helios.informatik.uni-kl.de/staff/hartenstein/karlHistory.html (about KARL and ABL)
4) http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a158217.pdf (about Ada)
5) "Fundamentals and Standards in Hardware Description Languages", by Mermet, J., Springer, 1993
Phil Moorby and the History of Verilog
https://community.cadence.com/cadence_blogs_8/b/breakfast-bytes/posts/phil-moorby
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