In the past few decades Computer Hardware Description Languages (CHDLs) have been a rapidly expanding subject area due to a number of factors, including the advancing complexity of digital electronics, the increasing prevalence of generic and programmable components of software-hardware and the migration of VLSI design to high level synthesis based on HDLs. Currently the subject has reached the consolidation phase in which languages and standards are being increasingly used, at the same time as the scope is being broadened to additional application areas. This book presents the latest developments in this area and provides a forum from which readers can learn from the past and look forward to what the future holds.