UPDuino: a $9.99 FPGA
Can someone explain why someone would choose an FPGA over a standard microprocessor? What advantages could this UPDuino have over an Arduino? Also, how do ASIC's figure into this comparison?<p>My understanding is that microprocessors excel at executing logic using an onboard general-purpose ALU sequentially and quickly.<p>On the other hand, an FPGA excels at doing a specified task as the hardware (gates) are programmed/hooked up in a certain way to execute that one task.<p>ASIC's are processors that are designed from the factory to execute a specific task (kind of like pre-programmed, non-reprogrammable FPGA's).<p>Can someone please fill in the gaps please? I have a general idea, but I'm not sure I understand all the differences correctly.