Reflecting the current industry trend of doing designs using hardware description languages (HDL) instead of logic diagrams, this straightforward guide presents the fundamentals of hardware design and the latest techniques and technologies in a smooth, easy-to-understand style with an abundant use of examples to build understanding and problem-solving skills.Presents a gradual development of logic, design, digital systems and computer architecture concepts, and more real-world examples and problems than any other book of its kind. Covers digital circuit delay early on to prepare readers for forthcoming study on pipelining, and weaves an on-going example of a simple computer system throughout to illustrate the principle impact of each topic in digital systems design. Discusses both VHDL and Verilog languages usage in combinational design sequential circuits, registers, datapaths, and multipliers, and dedicates 125 pages on an accompanying website that includes all source files for VHDL and Verilog examples. Includes new material on inertial delay, dynamic RAMs, jump and branch instructions, and Universal Serial Bus.