Page 20 - Engineering Digital Design

Preface

TEXT OVERVIEW
This text emphasizes the successful engineering design of digital devices and machines from
first principles. A special effort has been made not to "throw" logic circuits at the reader so
that questions remain as to how the circuits came about or whether or not they will function
correctly. An understanding of the intricacies of digital circuit design, particularly in the
area of sequential machines, is given the highest priority — the emphasis is on error-free
operation. From an engineering point of view, the design of a digital device or machine is
of little or no value unless it performs the intended operation(s) correctly and reliably.
Both the basics and background fundamentals are presented in this text. But it goes well
beyond the basics to provide significant intermediate-to-advanced coverage of digital design
material, some of which is covered by no other text. In fact, this text attempts to provide
course coverage at both the first and second levels — an ambitious undertaking. The aim
is to provide the reader with the tools necessary for the successful design of relatively
complex digital systems from first principles. In doing so, a firm foundation is laid for the
use of CAD methods that are necessary to the design of large systems. In a related sense,
VHDL behavioral and architectural descriptions of various machines, combinational and
sequential, are provided at various points in the text for those instructors and students who
wish to have or require a hardware description language in the study of digital design.
The text is divided into 16 relatively small chapters to provide maximum versatility in its
use. These chapters range from introductory remarks to advanced topics in asynchronous
systems. In these chapters an attempt is made to replace verbosity by illustration. Students
generally do not like to read lengthy verbal developments and explanations when simple
illustrations suffice. Well more than 600 figures and tables help to replace lengthy expla-
nations. More than 1000 examples, exercises, and problems (worked and unworked, single
and multiple part) are provided to enhance the learning process. They range in complex-
ity from simple algebraic manipulations to multipart system-level designs, each carefully
chosen with a specific purpose in mind. Annotated references appear at the end of each
chapter, and an appendix at the end of the text provides the details of subjects thought to
be peripheral to the main thrust of the text. Chapter 1 breaks with tradition in providing
a complete glossary of terms, expressions, and abbreviations that serves as a conspicuous
and useful source of information.

SUBJECT AREAS OF PARTICULAR STRENGTH IN THIS TEXT

Like others, this text has its subject areas of strengths — those that are uniquely presented in
sufficient detail as to stand out as significant didactic and edifying contributions. This text
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