Hardware description language (HDL)
Beginner
A programming-like language used to describe circuits instead of software.
Novice
A language for describing circuits rather than programs, such as SystemVerilog or VHDL. The same code can be run on a computer to test it (simulation) or turned into gates (synthesis).
Expert
SystemVerilog (IEEE 1800) and VHDL (IEEE 1076) dominate chip design. Both began as languages for simulating circuits, so the official meaning of the code is what a simulator does with it. Synthesis tools accept only a subset whose hardware meaning they agree on.
Explained in RTL design (Design Flow).
See also: Register-transfer level (RTL), Synthesizable subset.