Synthesis of Arithmetic Circuits: FPGA, ASIC and Embedded Systems

1.2 ALGORITHMS

Every complex data processing operation must be decomposed into simpler operations — the computation primitives — executable either by the main processor or by some specific coprocessor. The way the computation primitives are used in order to perform the complex operation is what is meant by algorithm. Obviously, knowledge of algorithms is of fundamental importance for developing arithmetic procedures (software) and circuits (hardware). It is the topic of Chapters 4–8.