VHDL’s History
Very High Speed Integrated Circuit (VHSIC) Program
- Launched in 1980
- Aggressive effort to advance state of the art
- Object was to achieve significant gains in VLSI technology
- Need for common descriptive language
- $17 Million for direct VHDL development
- $16 Million for VHDL design tools
Woods Hole Workshop
- Held in June 1981 in Massachusetts
- Discussion of VHSIC goals
- Comprised of members of industry, government, and academia
Notes:
The Very High Speed Integrated Circuit (VHSIC) Hardware Description Language (VHDL) is the product of a US Government request for a new means of describing digital hardware. The Very High Speed Integrated Circuit (VHSIC) Program was an initiative of the Defense Department to push the state of the art in VLSI technology, and VHDL was proposed as a versatile hardware description language.