Does learning Verilog / FPGA still require training?

lingking

Does learning Verilog / FPGA still require training? [Copy link]

I didn't take Verilog courses in college, but some of my classmates took this course. I took the book and took a rough look. Now I am working and preparing to switch to FPGA development in the future. Recently, I picked up Xia Yuwen's "Verilog Digital System Design Tutorial" to read. To be honest, every knowledge point in that book is explained in detail, but the connection between the knowledge points is basically invisible. There is no actual design process for a certain project requirement. In short, I feel that these textbooks are relatively out of touch with reality. I understand every knowledge point in the book, but I am helpless when I start writing code. This situation is like Yang Guo in "The Return of the Condor Heroes" who was sent to Zhao Zhijing by Guo Jing to learn martial arts when he was a child. He only taught theory but not practical combat, which was equivalent to not learning at all.

As far as I know, the author of that textbook is also a trainer. His training videos are also circulating on the Internet. There are 16 videos in total, but they are all very short and do not contain any substantial content. It seems that a short video was recorded during the training and then deliberately leaked. The purpose is to promote the training organization. Think about it, if useful content is written in the book, his training class will not be able to continue.

Having said so much, I would like to ask all the veterans, is learning Verilog / FPGA mainly self-taught or is there training in the company, or do you have to pay for training courses in society? Is there any material that is closer to actual combat and explains design ideas?

ou513

A lot of so-called training nowadays is just a scam. It doesn't necessarily mean that all of them are useless. The training methods are different. It depends on the individual's acceptance method. If the training is more similar to your own learning method, the effect will not be good.

lingking

ou513 posted on 2019-6-21 08:10 Nowadays, many so-called trainings are just to cheat people out of their money. It doesn’t necessarily mean that all of them are useless. The training methods are different. It depends on the individual’s acceptance. If the training is more...

I feel that there are still too few people working on Verilog. The learning materials are basically just about syntax, and the development board materials mostly just give the code directly without any ideas. This makes people feel like they can't find the way.

不足论

Training costs money, but it helps you get started quickly. Reading books requires time and training. Learning in a company with a solid foundation is indeed the best choice. I will say it again. It is important to have a company with a solid foundation and the experience of experienced people. Some training is half-hearted. What you learn is very fancy. It cannot be said that it is useless, but it does feel a bit too fancy.

lingking

Not Enough Theory was published on 2019-6-21 10:30 Training costs money, but it is quick to get started. Reading books requires time and training. Learning in a company with a solid foundation is indeed the best choice. The important thing is...

I feel that there are very few people in China who understand Verilog / FPGA. Maybe I didn't understand the book thoroughly enough. Now the only way is to study the book again.

bigbat

My personal experience of learning FPGA is that I feel that there is a problem with the learning ideas from the beginning! Many textbooks emphasize routines, and do not talk about the design ideas of digital circuits, but emphasize the functions of circuits. The result is the same as the original poster's feeling. Please remember that no matter what HDL language it is, it describes the structure of components, not the function. You must understand the underlying principles of basic combinational circuits and sequential circuits. Many statements in HDL describe truth tables. Truth tables are relatively high-level. Functional descriptions are used for testing. The "advanced" functions that can be synthesized are all IP cores. IP cores are not the key to learning, as long as you know that they can be used!

lingking

bigbat posted on 2019-6-22 20:39 My personal experience in learning FPGA is that I feel that there is a problem with the learning ideas at the beginning! Many textbooks emphasize routines, not the design ideas of digital circuits, and...

Now I am stuck in writing test statements. I have written a module but cannot write a corresponding test code to test whether the function is correct. I can only go back to read the book.

heningbo

It's hard to say. A good training company will help you get started quickly, but a deeper understanding requires continuous efforts. In addition, if you have a foundation, don't waste the money. If you look at the course carefully, you should be able to improve quickly.