Randy H. Katz and Gaetano Borriello
CONTEMPORARY LOGIC DESIGN, 2/e
Soft cover, pp. 448, plus XVI
Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ. 07458, 2005
ISBN 0-13-127830-4
http://www.pearsoneduc.com

In general about book

Logic design is concerned with the design of digital electronic circuits. Digital circuits are employed in the design and construction of systems such as digital computers, data communication, digital recording, and many other applications that require digital hardware. Modern logic design is a set of abstractions and methodologies that is used to devise, understand and manipulate large collections of digital circuits. The technology of digital design constantly evolve. With advances in VLSI technology it is possible nowadays to manufacture integrated circuits with several million transistors. This progress influences development of power CAD tools that make possible design of such integrated circuits. In this sense, the notion of digital designer has been redefined, shifting from a knowledge of low-level design techniques to a knowledge of the design principles, hardware description languages, programmable logic and the ability to use CAD tools to explore various design alternatives. With all these changes, there is a strong need for new approaches in educating principles of digital design, also. As a reflection of all these trends and needs, this book represents the most complete and up-to-date introductory logic design text. The book presents the basic tools for the design of digital circuits and provides the fundamental concepts used in the design of digital systems. The author's goal is to provide a long-lasting knowledge of basic concepts and a general methodology that can be adapted to the rapidly changing field of digital design. Topics covered in the text are combinational and sequential circuit principles. The presentation of logic design theory is complemented with: broad coverage of programmable logic, including ROMs, PALs, and PLAs, early introduction of HDL-based digital design, and introduction to software tools.

Chapter content

The book is divided in ten chapters.

Chapter 1 presents an unusual and unique introduction to logic design. Authors attempt to introduce many of the concepts of digital design quickly through a short history and evolution of digital hardware and two examples of logic design with aim to provide a general view of the field.

Chapter 2 introduces basics of combinational logic principles through postulates of Boolean algebra, logic gates, two-level and multilevel logic. This chapter gives emphasize to correlation between truth tables, Boolean expressions, K-maps and their corresponding logic diagrams.

Chapter 3 outlines the algorithms for design of combinational circuits built-in into today's CAD tools. Chapter begins with formalizing K-map method for Boolean minimization, and continue with explanation of two automated methods for two-level simplification: Quine-McCluskey and Espresso. Introductions to hardware description languages appear at the end of this chapter.

The technological aspects of digital circuits are presented in Chapter 4. A range of implementation technologies available for nowadays logic designer are discussed with particular focus on programmable logic devices and their capability to realize combinational logic functions. Treatment of tri-state and open-collector logic is included, also.

Chapter 5 concludes the combinational logic section of the book with several more involving design examples. The goal of this chapter is to emphasize a coherent, step-by-step design procedure instead of (ad-hoc) manual design techniques.

Chapter 6 teaches basics of sequential logic. It covers simple circuits with memory (elementary circuits with feedback, latches and flip-flops), use of clock, and building basic forms of registers from flip-flops. Timing related issues (setup/hold times, clock skew, metastability) are discussed, also. The chapter end with section on Verilog features that support description of the building blocks of sequential logic.

Chapter 7 deals with finite state machines (FSMs) as the central subject of the sequential logic design. It starts with explanations of various kinds of counters and corresponding counter design procedures as a primitive form of more general FSM design procedures. The second part of this chapter is devoted to the methods for describing the behavior of FSM, and basic design procedures for FSMs. Examples are given to illustrate Mealy and Moore models of FSMs.

Chapter 8 focuses on procedures for optimizing a FSM including methods for state minimization and state assignment. Tradeoffs at each optimization step are illustrated with examples. The last section provides an explanation of behavioral modeling in Verilog HDL for FSMs.

Chapter 9 continues discussion on implementation technologies started in Chapter 4 but focusing on alternative strategies for implementing FSMs. Implementations of state machines with discrete flip-flops, ROMs/PALs/PLAs, and PLDs, and corresponding tradeoffs are discussed in this chapter.

Chapter 10 is a collection of four larger examples with each highlighting different aspects of the sequential logic design techniques developed in previous chapters. Each example demonstrates every step in the design process with detailed explanation of designer's options and choices.

Appropriate for a first course in digital logic design

Contemporary Logic Design addresses fundaments of logic design. It introduces readers to logic design theory and most widespread design practices including essentials of HDL-based design, and current design technologies. The author also encourages hands-on experimentation with software tools to improve the reader's understanding of practical design methods. The book is up-to-date, very well written and organized, and the presentation of the material is clear. The organizations of the individual chapters are almost identical containing introduction, main theme, chapter review, section on further reading, and a set of exercises. Moreover, companion Website includes additional resources for instructors and students such as set of lecture slides, solutions to all the problems in the text, and supplementary material on computer organization. This book is intended for use as a textbook in an introductory course in an electrical engineering, computer engineering, or computer science curriculum. No previous knowledge of electric circuits or of electronics is assumed. The HDL presentation is at a level suitable for beginning students that are learning digital circuits at the same time as learning a hardware description language. Overall, the book provides a solid foundation of theoretical and engineering principles for students to use as they go forward in this fast moving field.