Amazon.com
VHDL may sound like a new Internet language, but it really stands for VHSIC (Very High Speed Integrated Circuit) Hardware Definition Language. VHDL borrows ideas from software engineering (architectural, behavior, and formal models, as well as modular design) and is used to design today's custom integrated circuits, from cell phones to microwave ovens and even CPUs. Peter Ashenden's The Designer's Guide to VHDL shows you how to use this language to write a hardware design, which you can then test in a simulator before "synthesizing" it into an actual hardware design in silicon.
The book begins with the basics of VHDL, which, like any software language, has keywords, operators, flow control statements, and programming conventions. Next, the author introduces his first case study--a "pipelined multiplier accumulator," which simulates a CPU register. He then moves on to more complicated models, such as a design for a complete CPU (the DLX processor, which is used as a model for educating future CPU designers). More advanced aspects of VHDL follow, including guard signals, abstract data types, and even file I/O. A final case study (for a "queuing network") puts these components into practice. The book closes with a discussion of "synthesizers"--additional software tools that convert a VHDL specification into silicon--and how these tools impose design limits. The appendices include Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) enhancements to VHDL, which have increased the design language's power. Although most of us won't ever need to design our own integrated circuit, this book shows how it's done. Engineering students who need to master VHDL during a semester-length course, will find Ashenden's guide to be indispensable--and written in an accessible style rarely found in engineering texts.
Book Description
Since the publication of the first edition of The Designer's Guide to VHDL in 1996, digital electronic systems have increased exponentially in their complexity, product lifetimes have dramatically shrunk, and reliability requirements have shot through the roof. As a result more and more designers have turned to VHDL to help them dramatically improve productivity as well as the quality of their designs.
VHDL, the IEEE standard hardware description language for describing digital electronic systems, allows engineers to describe the structure and specify the function of a digital system as well as simulate and test it before manufacturing. In addition, designers use VHDL to synthesize a more detailed structure of the design, freeing them to concentrate on more strategic design decisions and reduce time to market. Adopted by designers around the world, the VHDL family of standards have recently been revised to address a range of issues, including portability across synthesis tools.
This best-selling comprehensive tutorial for the language and authoritative reference on its use in hardware design at all levels--from system to gates--has been revised to reflect the new IEEE standard, VHDL-2001. Peter Ashenden, a member of the IEEE VHDL standards committee, presents the entire description language and builds a modeling methodology based on successful software engineering techniques. Reviewers on Amazon.com have consistently rated the first edition with five stars. This second edition updates the first, retaining the authors unique ability to teach this complex subject to a broad audience of students and practicing professionals.
* Details how the new standard allows for increased portability across tools.
* Covers related standards, including the Numeric Synthesis Package and the Synthesis Operability Package, demonstrating how they can be used for digital systems design.
* Presents four extensive case studies to demonstrate and combine features of the language taught across multiple chapters.
* Requires only a minimal background in programming, making it an excellent tutorial for anyone in computer architecture, digital systems engineering, or CAD.
Customer Reviews:
Best VHDL Reference.......2007-01-11
This has been my definitive VHDL language reference for 6 or 7 years, now. I use it as I would K&R for the C language. It explains all the gory syntactical and structural details of a messy language.
I would agree that this text is not a "synthesis cookbook" for learning the best way to produce logic from code. But I do not think that its the author's goal to do so. He does cover practical examples of applied VHDL which serve as a great reference when I have to remember how to build a testbench.
A Great Book for Behavioral VHDL, Not for Synthesis.......2005-08-25
This book goes into great detail on variable typing, subtyping, and all aspects of behavioral modeling. It's extremely detailed and thourough. If you just want to learn the intricacies of VHDL and only expect to write test benches and behavioral models, this is definitely the book for you. If you're looking for a practical book that will help you to write synthesizable code, look somewhere else. The book does have a 17-page appendix on synthesis, but that's pretty much it. All the "case studies" are behavioral, even the RTL models.
About as good as it will get it appears..........2005-03-17
VHDL is used for a wide variety of things - almost none of them what VHDL was every really meant for. This makes finding a useful text a reference a significant chore. Ashenden sometimes seems to move at a snail's pace - the text is written more as a tutorial than a reference. In some ways this is good, really the syntax of VHDL and the constructs are quite simple. His repeated examples make it clear there really isn't much magic going on. Personally I wish the book was more directed at synthesis - because that's what I use it for - but this text is more directed at the language. So some supplementing of the text will be necessary.
In short, it could be better but I'm not sure how and for my requirements it appears to be about the best the market has to offer.
The migration path for programmers.......2004-01-08
Too many VHDL books dilute their point by trying to double as logic design texts. The problem is that VHDL is a complex (or "rich") language, and needs an intense focus of its own. This book does the best job I've seen.
I've learned lots of languages, usually one or two a year. I know what to look for. I want a book that lays it all out clearly enough that I can find what I want. That includes complex data types, overloading, and especially configurability. VHDL really does have almost all the capabilities of a C-like language, plus a few more features, and the author has succeeded in making them accessible.
Configurability deserves special attention - it is an explicit part of the VHDL language. It's a pre-Object-Oriented language but was developed when OO ideas were solidfying in the industry. Although it lacks OO flexibility, Ashenden does point out how "use" and "configure" can give a few of the same effects.
Hardware description languages aren't like regular programming languages, and shouldn't be, and can't be. Still, they're not that different, either. Perhaps you're already a good programmer and already comfortable with digital system basics. If so, this may be the book to give you the language knowledge you need with minimal repetition of what you already know.
Not a practical guide.......2003-04-10
If you are an engineer, like me, wanting to teach yourself VHDL then this is NOT the book for you. The actual mechanics of how to write VHDL code is lost in all of the doctrine superfluously created by the author. The examples he gives in order to clarify points only serve to make the concepts more mysterious. The book fails to make the connection between the software world and what the results of the language are in hardware. The index is minimal and I found it practically useless. It is an exhaustive work with many exercises, but as for practicality--I give it a big thumbs down.
Book Description
The demand is exploding for complete, integrated systems that sense, process, manipulate, and control complex entities such as sound, images, text, motion, and environmental conditions. These systems, from hand-held devices to automotive sub-systems to aerospace vehicles, employ electronics to manage and adapt to a world that is, predominantly, neither digital nor electronic.
To respond to this design challenge, the industry has developed and standardized VHDL-AMS, a unified design language for modeling digital, analog, mixed-signal, and mixed-technology systems. VHDL-AMS extends VHDL to bring the successful HDL modeling methodology of digital electronic systems design to these new design disciplines.
Gregory Peterson and Darrell Teegarden join best-selling author Peter Ashenden in teaching designers how to use VHDL-AMS to model these complex systems. This comprehensive tutorial and reference provides detailed descriptions of both the syntax and semantics of the language and of successful modeling techniques. It assumes no previous knowledge of VHDL, but instead teaches VHDL and VHDL-AMS in an integrated fashion, just as it would be used by designers of these complex, integrated systems.
* Explores the design of an electric-powered, unmanned aerial vehicle system (UAV) in five separate case studies to illustrate mixed-signal, mixed-technology, power systems, communication systems, and full system modeling.
* Includes a CD-ROM with code for all the examples and case studies in the book, an educational model library, a quick reference guide for VHDL-AMS, a syntax reference from Appendix E in the book, links to VHDL-AMS resources and Mentor Graphics SystemVision software, which provides a simulation and modeling environment with a schematic entry tool, a VHDL-AMS simulator, and a waveform viewing facility.
Book Description
The information systems security (InfoSec) profession remains one of the fastest growing professions in the world today. With the advent of the Internet and its use as a method of conducting business, even more emphasis is being placed on InfoSec. However, there is an expanded field of threats that must be addressed by today's InfoSec and information assurance (IA) professionals.
Operating within a global business environment with elements of a virtual workforce can create problems not experienced in the past. How do you assess the risk to the organization when information can be accessed, remotely, by employees in the field or while they are traveling internationally? How do you assess the risk to employees who are not working on company premises and are often thousands of miles from the office? How do you assess the risk to your organization and its assets when you have offices or facilities in a nation whose government may be supporting the theft of the corporate "crown jewels" in order to assist their own nationally owned or supported corporations? If your risk assessment and management program is to be effective, then these issues must be assessed.
Personnel involved in the risk assessment and management process face a much more complex environment today than they have ever encountered before.
This book covers more than just the fundamental elements that make up a good risk program. It provides an integrated "how to" approach to implementing a corporate program, complete with tested methods and processes; flowcharts; and checklists that can be used by the reader and immediately implemented into a computer and overall corporate security program. The challenges are many and this book will help professionals in meeting their challenges as we progress through the 21st Century.
*Presents material in an engaging, easy-to-follow manner that will appeal to both advanced INFOSEC career professionals and network administrators entering the information security profession
*Addresses the needs of both the individuals who are new to the subject as well as of experienced professionals
*Provides insight into the factors that need to be considered & fully explains the numerous methods, processes & procedures of risk management
Customer Reviews:
Best Risk Management book on the market today!.......2005-04-29
There are many books on the market dealing with risk management as part of InfoSec. So, I wasn't sure that this one would be better, or provide any new information. I was first surprised to find it written in a non-techie way. That means the information is easy to read and more importantly, easy to understand. Also, because it is written by two authors from the UK, it offers a slightly different look than what has been written on the topic by numerous U.S. authors.
What I especially liked about this book is that it not only dealt with all of today's relative risk management issues but the section on "The Threat Assessment Process" was really well done. Often this is not given the importance it deserves as other authors concentrated on the risks. However, one must know the enemies to defend again them. This part was a nice surprise.
So for today's professional whose experience is vast or limited, this book offers all you need to know about risk manaagement as it relates to InfoSec - or "Computer Security" as the authors call it.
Average customer rating:
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Ashenden
Manufacturer: Recorded Books Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
ASIN: 1556900325 |
Product Description
6 Cassettes, 9 Hours, Unabridged
Customer Reviews:
bought this at a vintage bookstore on recommendation of store owner.......2006-02-05
Very wonderful writing and not that I know anything about the reality but it does seem realistic.
A Master of Characterization.......2005-02-06
"Ashenden" by Somerset Maugham is one of the grandfathers of the spy fiction genre. In reality, it's not really a novel, but eight short stories featuring Ashenden, a novelist-secret agent during WWI. Each story is unique, some focusing on the violence and duplicity of the secret world (e.g., "The Hairless Mexican," "Guilia Lazzari," and "The Traitor"). Others are less about espionage than quiet character studies (for example, the final story, "The Sanatorium," has nothing whatever to do with spying, but is set in a tuberculosis sanatorium and--though a it's a bit sentimental--is a brilliant character study of the patients and, in particular, of those who find love in the midst of adversity). I found it deeply touching.
I must admit this the first I've read of Maugham and was impressed with his ability in a single paragraph to get to the very essence of a character (perhaps the best example being his vivid characterization of the funny, but tragic Mr. Harrington in "Mr. Harrington's Washing"). Each of Maugham's characters are distinct and finely drawn.
Maugham at one time analyzed himself as in the first rank of the second rate writers. He may not be Dostoevsky or Cervantes, but he was a fine writer who deserves to be read-I think it's more accurate to say he's in the second row of the first rate writers.
I only found out about "Ashenden" from one of the terrific essays of Michael Dirda (the reviewer for the Washington Post) in which he constantly brings to light lost classics.
"Ashenden" is readable, convincing, and (despite its WWI setting) relevant to the events of today. The secret and desperate world of war and espionage will be with us forever it seems; Maugham's themes are timeless and his writing is a model of clarity.
This is a lost classic that should be read.
ATMOSPHERIC.......2003-07-28
Ashenden was particularly admired by Raymond Chandler, and that is what first interested me in it. It is the story, based on Maugham's own experience, of a British spy in the first world war. The 'story' is more a series of separate episodes, and I can easily imagine why it appealed to Chandler -- as well as the laconic detachment of the writing, there is almost a feel of Hammett here and there, notably the episode of the Hairless Mexican. Much of the action centres round Geneva, a city I personally like, and there is a peculiar fascination in the voyage of the lake-steamer going in and out of the war-zone as it alternates between Switzerland and France. This kind of spy did not have much in common with the heroes of Len Deighton or John Le Carre -- the job reminds me more of how J K Galbraith described the life of an ambassador, ninety percent boredom and ten percent panic, like being an airline pilot. It has its grim side too as you would expect. One of the most memorable pieces is the story of the traitor Grantley Caypor. Some years ago Ashenden was serialised on the BBC, with Caypor superbly played by Alan Bennett. What that production did not even try to reproduce was what happened at the moment of Caypor's execution, unforgettable in Maugham's cold prose.
The Father of Modern Spies.......2000-06-13
Worth a read for historical reasons as it is one of (if not the) first modern spy novels. That said, it is very far away from the intricately woven page-turners featuring brainy CIA types bedding winsome females that we tend to think of as being sp novels today. Maugham served in the British intelligence corps in WWI and drew heavily upon his own experiences in writing this book, indeed the epynonymous hero is a well-known writer by profession. Each chapter is almost its own vignette, illustrating some experience or aspect of the intelligent agent's life. The theme is that the agent's life is marked by dullness and inability to know the "big picture." Ashenden is based in Switzerland and undertakes his assignments (none of which involve gunplay or physical prowess) dutifully, yet the reader feels, with a certain ambivalence. There is one especially haunting scene where, for once, Ashenden witnesses firsthand, the repercussions of his actions.
The Precursor to Greene, Ian Flemming, Eric Ambler,LeCarre`.......1999-04-19
Considered by many afficionados of the Spy Novel genre` as the first of it's kind. Written in 1928, the book is a series of stories loosly connected to reveal the sometimes tedious, sometimes adventureous events in the work of a spy in MI5 during the latter stages of World War I. Maugham is given credit by Graham Greene and Eric Ambler as being their inspiration and Ian Flemming borrowed much from the book, including M who was "R" in Maugham's book. Maugham was given the impossible task to squelch the Bolshivic revolution with 56,000 pounds given to him by the government of Lloyd George and he fictionalizes this in the story "Mr. Harrington's Washington." The story "The Hairless Mexican" inspired Hitchcock to write and direct the movie "The Secret Agent" with John Guilgud and Peter Lorrie. This book to my thinking is one of the hidden classics in literature, written by a writer highly underrated because of his popularity and some of his later works that he did purely for money. A must for lovers of the Edwardian period and those who ever wondered where the Burbury Trench Coat came from.
Book Description
Foucault contra Habermas is an incisive examination of, and a comprehensive introduction to, the debate between Foucault and Habermas over the meaning of enlightenment and modernity. It reprises the key issues in the argument between critical theory and genealogy and is organised around three complementary themes: defining the context of the debate; examining the theoretical and conceptual tools used; and discussing the implications for politics and criticism.
In a detailed reply to Habermas' Philosophical Discourse of Modernity, this volume explains the difference between Habermas' philosophical practice and Foucault's between the analytics of truth and the politics of truth. Many of the most difficult arguments in the exchange are subject to a detailed critical analysis. This examination also includes discussion of the ethics of dialogue; the practice of criticism; the politics of recognition , and the function of civil society and democracy.
Customer Reviews:
Thumbs up.......2000-11-10
This is a welcome addition to the proverbial confrontation between Habermas' transcendental pragmatics and Foucault's geneology. Although both thinkers chose language as the vehicle of emancipation, Habermas' persistence in holding on the the Kantian universals of reasons in intersubjective interaction through applying the maxims of reason leaves no room for localised considerations. Foucault's engagment with the Kantian conception of enlightenment is one of historical contingency. He advocates a formulation of ethics where emancipation and maturity are not set by the normative practices of Habermas and Kant but the locale's own arrival at its own truths. The articles shed more light on the differences between the two ethical stances enriching the literature on the subject.
Product Description
Based on W. Somerset Maugham's experiences as a Britist secret agent in WWI, these spellbinding interwoven tales are so grippig and realistic that they became required reading for recruits entering British intelligence.
Customer Reviews:
A DATED, PROTRACTED, SOMETIMES RAGGED READ........2007-05-13
I've always enjoyed W. Somerset Maugham's writings, especially his smooth and elegant style. Picked up a copy of this book reprint from Reader's Digest the other day at our local Goodwill store.
Have been reading and enjoying it; however, I fail to see the importance of this book as do many other readers and critics. Firstly since this book concerns itself with a period during WWI into the 1920s, being first published in 1927, the material is very dated, not the writing style itself for it reads very well; but the subject matter is somewhat quaint. Further, the 'stories' are sometimes difficult to link in transition with seemingly a few having nothing of their own to add to the overall story. And, finally, though I served in the military in some small degree in security and intelligence, can find nothing in this book that would warrant requiring new agents to read this book. In addition, since it is freely acknowledged that 'Ashenden' is a novice in spying, being a full time writer, what could a neophyte possibly teach other neophytes entering the field of intelligence. Ashenden frequently admits he knows little to nothing of the work he is called upon to do.
It is a very interesting read from a bygone era, however, I feel many readers and critics are lavishing far too much praise on this book. And I suspect that since the author never wrote another mystery/spy book he too had some reservations of it.
Semper Fi.
Average customer rating:
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Nabokov and the Art of Painting
Gerard de Vries ,
D. Barton Johnson , and
Liana Ashenden
Manufacturer: Amsterdam University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 General
| Painting
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
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| Books
General
| History & Criticism
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
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All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 9053567909 |
Book Description
“Sounds have colors and colors have smells.” This sentence in Ada is only one of the many moments in Nabokov’s work where he sought to merge the visual into his rich and sensual writing. This lavishly illustrated study is the first to examine the role of the visual arts in Nabokov’s oeuvre and to explore how art deepens the potency of the prominent themes threaded throughout his work. The authors trace the role of art in Nabokov’s life, from his alphabetic chromesthesia—a psychological condition in which letters evoke specific colors—to his training under Marc Chagall’s painting instructor to his deep admiration for Leonardo da Vinci and Hieronymus Bosch. They then examine over 150 references to specific works of art in such novels as Laughter in the Dark, The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, Pnin, Lolita, Ada, and Pale Fire and consider how such references reveal new emotional aspects of Nabokov’s fiction. A fascinating and wholly original study, Nabokov and the Art of Painting will be invaluable reading for scholars and enthusiasts of Nabokov alike.
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Circuit Design with VHDL
VHDL : Programming By Example
The Design Warrior's Guide to FPGAs (Edn Series for Design Engineers)
Computer Organization and Design, Revised Printing, Third Edition, Third Edition: The Hardware/Software Interface (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer ... Series in Computer Architecture and Design)
VHDL Coding Styles and Methodologies
