Prof. Dr. Thorsten Jungmann (last updated 2026-10-04)
Overview of this lesson
What is this lesson about? – The guiding questions:
- How can the same component become a decoder today and a counter tomorrow – without a soldering iron?
- Why do engineers write text to build hardware?
- Microcontroller or field-programmable gate array (FPGA): which would you put on the control board of a heat pump, and why?
What will you be able to do at the end of this lesson? – The intended learning outcomes:
- You explain what programmable logic devices (PLDs), FPGAs and microcontrollers consist of and how they work.
- You recognize VHDL code and sketch the corresponding circuit.
What will you know at the end of this lesson? – The building blocks of knowledge:
- Introduction to programmable logic devices (PLDs)
- Programming of PLDs
- Field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs)
- Hardware description languages (HDLs)
- Microcontrollers
- Computers
How is the content organized? – The structure:
- …