VHDL is the VHSIC Hardware Description Language. VHSIC is an
abbreviation for Very High Speed Integrated Circuit.
It can describe the behaviour and structure of electronic
systems, but is particularly suited as a language to describe the
structure and behaviour of digital electronic hardware designs,
such as ASICs and FPGAs as well as conventional digital circuits.
VHDL is an international standard, regulated by the IEEE.
Simulation and synthesis are the two main kinds of tools which
operate on the VHDL language.
VHDL allows designs to be described using any methodology - top
down, bottom up or middle out! VHDL can be used to describe
hardware at the gate level or in a more abstract way.