Ask HN: How to get started developing with FPGA?
1) FPGAs are used for low-level stuff (high-speed digital logic) and high-level stuff (accelerating algorithms). It sounds like you're only interested in the latter. You can ignore any tutorials that go into Verilog/VHDL or low-level logic design.<p>2) The two major FPGA manufacturers are Intel and Xilinx. Each has their own tools. The tools are very different. You should pick one (flip a coin) and stick with it, at least starting out.<p>3) FPGA manufacturers typically have a free tier of their tools, and a paid tier. The paid tier is usually thousands of dollars. You'll only need the paid tier if you're using a high-end FPGA (those are usually also very expensive - thousands of dollars for an evaluation board).<p>4) Buy a popular FPGA board in the $100-$1000 range. I recommend something from Terasic (Intel FPGA boards) or Digilent (Xilinx FPGA boards).<p>5) Accept that you won't have a high-speed connection to a PC. Inexpensive FPGA boards normally only have gigabit ethernet, at best. You can get a PCIe FPGA board, or connect a USB 3.0 PHY via FMC connector, but you're looking at more money invested, and you'd have to learn a lot more about the inner workings of the FPGA.<p>6) The tools you're looking for are Intel Quartus II HLS, or Xilinx Vivado HLS.<p>7) Look into OpenCL for Intel and Xilinx FPGAs. This is the ultimate goal you're trying to attain - getting arbitrary algorithms optimized for FPGA fabric. Good luck!