Anyone Using JHDL for Programmable Logic?

gte910h asks: "I am an embedded developer who is learning how to program programmable logic devices (CPLD's and FPGA's). I have looked at VHDL and other Hardware Description Languages, but they seem so obtuse compared to C or Java. Has anyone tried any of the tools based off of general purpose programming languages, like JHDL. Do they work as well as VHDL and other HDL's? These would make things this type of development acessable to more people if they work well enough." Are packages similar to JHDL available for other languages?

Comments

HDL 'programming'

[motorsabbath]

One of the hardest things we all need to learn when starting out with HDL is that we're not programming - we're building hardware and arrays of gates. Having done a *lot* of C and applications programming before I started on VHDL and Verilog I can tell you it took a while to shake off the programmer in me and become a hardware developer. Applying general-purpose programming tactics to HDL too often makes too many gates and highly inefficient chip and logic layouts.

Both VHDL and Verilog have their strengths - you'll get used to them. Especially if you have to sit down and hand-tewak the resultant logic aftewards ... Verilog is easier to write, but VHDL is (seems) more typesafe and is easier to debug.