title: Developing multi-use VHDL modules
body: <p>I've recently just started learning VHDL again after not having touched it for years. The hope is to use it to develop a control system with various sensor interfaces, etc. I'm fairly competent in embedded C, which has been my go-to language for any embedded projects I've had up until this point, which makes learning VHDL all the more frustrating.</p>
  
  <p>Basically, my issue right now, which I see as my biggest barrier in being able to progress with my intended project, is that I don't know how to develop and incorporate a module that I can just pass variables to and call (like a function in C) to carry out some task, <em>i.e. display an integer 0-9999 on a 4 digit 7-segment display</em>. 
  I know there are components in VHDL, but that seems like such a long winded way of performing one task. Is there a better way of doing this?</p>
  
  <p>It seems to me like after you've done all the digital tutorials, there's a huge gap in the info on how to actually develop a full system in VHDL.</p>