Currently, many machine vision, signal and image processing problems are solved on personal computers due to the low cost involved in these computers and the many excellent software tools that exist, such as MATLAB. However, computationally expensive tasks require the use of multi-processor computers that are expensive and difficult to use efficiently due to communications between the processors. In these cases, FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays) are the best choice but they are not as widely used because of lack of experience in using these devices, difficulties with algorithmic translation and immaturity of the design and implementation tools for FPGAs. Programming languages are always evolving and the programming languages for microprocessors have evolved significantly, from functional and procedural languages to object-oriented languages. Nowadays, a new paradigm called aspect-oriented software development (AOSD) is becoming more widespread. However, hardware programming languages have not evolved to the same extent as the software programming languages for microprocessors. They are still dominated by the technologies developed in 1980s, which have significant deficiencies described in this thesis. Recent advances in HDLs (Hardware Description Languages) have taken a conservative approach based on well-proven software techniques.