Grout I. Digital Systems Design with FPGAs and CPLDs

Burlington:Elsevier, 2008. - 763 p.
In days gone by, life for the electronic circuit designer seems to have been easier.
Designs were smaller, ran at a slower speed, and could easily fit onto a single small
printed circuit board. An individual designer could work on a problem and designs
could be specified and developed using paper and pen only. The circuit schematic
diagrams that were required could be rapidly drawn on the back of an envelope.
Struck by the success of the early circuit designs, customers started to ask for smaller,
faster, and more complex circuits — and at a lower cost. The designers started to work
on solving such problems, which has led to the rapidly expanding electronics industry
that we have today. Driven by the demand from the customer, new materials and
fabrication processes have been developed, new circuit design methodologies and
design architectures have taken over many of the early traditional design approaches,
and new markets for the circuits have evolved.