A program is a list of instructions. A processor reads them one after another: line 2 runs after line 1, and a loop runs its body again and again over time.
A hardware design is different. It describes a circuit: gates and wires that all exist at the same time and all work at the same time. Nothing "runs first". When an input changes, the change ripples through every gate connected to it, all at once.
That is why the language you are about to learn, SystemVerilog, can look like a programming language and still behave so differently. Each line you write does not do something once. It describes a piece of hardware that is always there.
> The one idea to keep: you are not writing steps. You are drawing a circuit with > words.
RTL means register-transfer level. It is the level at which digital designers usually describe chips:
Every design in this course, from a single AND gate to a state machine, is just those two ingredients put together. A tool called a synthesizer turns your RTL into real gates, and a simulator lets you test it on a computer before anything is built. Gate Puzzles runs the simulator for you whenever you submit.
RTL for noobies: step 1 of 24.