What is difference between hardware language and software language?

Answer 1

in my opinion hardware language is actually that which is easily understandable by hardware and that is machine language (depends on binary notation 0,1) and software language is used to make applications which is high level language. c#, c++, etc

Answer 2

It is normally said that once you learn one programming language it is pretty easy to learn the other programming languages. This is because the concepts are almost same in most of the programming languages with some only syntax differences.

But if you ask a hardware engineer, he may have a totally different opinion. If you dont stop thinking from a C programmer's perspective, then life as VHDL programmer will drive you nuts. Because both the languages have many differences between them. Both are different from the basic level itself, though they seem to have many similarities.

So let me compile some of the basic differences between C Programming and VHDL programming.

1. C is a middle level language. I mean its a mix of a high level language and an assembly language.

   VHDL is a hardware description language(HDL) . It is used for implementing the hardware circuit.

2. C can only handle sequential instructions.

   VHDL allows both sequential and concurrent executions.

3. A C program can be successfully written with pure logical or algorithmic thinking.

   But a successful VHDL programmer needs thorough working knowledge of the hardware circuits. He should be able to predict how a given code will be implemented in hardware.

4. Normally we don't care about resource usage in C. This is because a C program is usually ran on a computer which uses a powerful processor with high speed. We also don't care about the memory usage.

   But when it comes to VHDL a slightly complicated code can make you bent on your knees. The memory and other logic elements are limited in a FPGA(where you normally put the VHDL code in). This is why it is very difficult to implement image processing algorithms in VHDL than in C.