More on FPGAs...

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May peace and blessings of the Almighty be upon you all...

What is an FPGA?

    Before the advent of programmable logic, custom logic circuits were built at the board level using standard components, or at the gate level in expensive application-specific (custom) integrated circuits.  

The FPGA is an integrated circuit that contains many (64 to over 10,000) identical logic cells that can be viewed as standard components.  Each logic cell can independently take on any one of  a limited set of personalities.  The individual cells are interconnected by a matrix of wires and programmable switches.