On design-for-reusability in hardware description languages

The reuse of electronic components can improve the productivity in system design. However, without careful planning components are rarely designed for reuse. Hardware description languages (HDLs) are commonly used to construct from simple hardware to complex designs. The HDLs allow the creation of reusable models, but the reusability of a design does not come with language features alone. It requires design disciplines to reach an efficient reusable design. The reusability issues and the design methodologies to achieve design-for-reusability (DFR) are presented. Quantitative analysis of ten VHDL applications, based on the proposed reusable models, is summarized.