Where Verilog Fits in the Toolchain

Verilog is a hardware description language: you use it to describe what a circuit is, not to write a program that runs line by line. A simulator reads your Verilog plus a testbench and shows the resulting behavior — often as a waveform over time — so you can check it against what you intended.

Two tools sit on either side of your description. A simulator answers "does this behave correctly?" by exercising the design with test inputs. A synthesizer answers "can this be built?" by translating a restricted, synthesizable subset of Verilog into a network of real gates.

This course stays inside that synthesizable subset and leans on simulation to prove behavior. Knowing which tool you are talking to — simulator or synthesizer — explains why some Verilog is fine for a quick test but not for hardware.