One of the first steps in any HDL project is to define its scope by knowing the nature of all the signals that are interconnected to pieces of the project.

The half-step sequence of a stepper motor is created by inserting a start with only one coil energized between full steps.

In the digital clock project, frequency prescaling is used to take a 1 pps input and transform it into a 60 pps timing signal.

The frequency counter measures frequency by enabling a counter to count the number of pulses of the incoming waveform during a precisely specified period of time called the sampling time.

Top-down design means that we start at the highest level of the hierarchy, or that the entire project is considered to exist in a closed dark box with inputs and outputs.