The Designer's Guide to VHDL (Systems on Silicon)

• The Student's Guide to VHDL (Systems on Silicon)
• Circuit Design with VHDL
• VHDL: Programming by Example
• FPGA Prototyping Using VHDL Examples: Xilinx Spartan-3 Version
• VHDL 2007: Just the New Stuff (Systems on Silicon)

I learnt VHDL using this book (bought from Amazon) and use VHDL every day now.

It is a comprehensive guide to VHDL, but is easy to read and mainly avoids jargon. So it is of benefit both to beginners to VHDL, and to people who've used it on a daily basis for the last x years.

The only criticism is that it does not attempt to describe the standard libraries.

Small focus on design and implementation, 2008-05-01
This book is a great reference as far as describing the VHDL sintax goes. However, the "design" in the title didn't match my expectations. There is little focus on actual design, synthesis and implementation, the most part of the examples are only suitable for simulation, not implementation in reconfigurable systems.
For instance, the book does not explain how signals can infer laches or flip-flops or even simple interconnects, depending on the constructs where they appear. This a very basic subject that shouldn't go unmentioned on a Designer's book... Also, there is way too much topics about non synthesisable data types and operations, with only one meager chapter about synthesis near the end.
The book serves well as a reference for the VHDL syntax, albeit the language and syntax diagrams aren't the best choice for clearness, but it isn't suited for VHDL based design at all.
There is an awfull lot of better alternatives out there.

Caused more confusion than it provided answers !, 2001-10-25
I must be almost alone in the world of reviewers since I do not rate Ashenden's book highly at all. Although an experienced engineer, my background is in software (Tcl-Tk, C, Assembler, etc) with hardware design done with schematic capture.
I was looking for a book which would help me transistion from schematic to text hardware design, and which would make sense given my programming experience.
I found this book extremely confusing as it did not describe the use of header files, prototyping, etc. in a way that I was familiar with. I do not doubt the information is in it, but it was just not in a form I was able to easily digest.

The book seems to work well with many people, and it might do for you. Personally, I find the book extremely frustrating, and am looking to find a better one. When I do, this one will be used to prop up a table leg.

One of the best treatments on the subject, 2008-08-28
I've had this book for little over a year now and I still refer back to it, time and again. In fact, I have several years experience programming in VHDL but I occassionally come across new and interesting problems and this book often has the answers I am looking for. The rather broad treatment and the plentiful examples means that I rarely have to look elsewhere.

Money well spent, I'd say.