Comments

-- I am a comment
I am not

Literals

constant FREEZE : integer := 32;
constant TEMP : real := 32.0;
A_INT <= 16#FF#;
B_INT <= 2#1010_1010#;
MONEY := 1_000_000.0;
FACTOR := 2.2E-6;
constant DEL1 :time := 10 ns;
constant DEL2 :time := 2.27 us;
type MY_LOGIC is ('X','0','1','Z');
type T_STATE is (IDLE, READ, END_CYC);
signal CLK : MY_LOGIC := '0';
signal STATE : T_STATE := IDLE;
constant FLAG :bit_vector(0 to 7) := "11111111";
constant MSG : string := "Hello";
BIT_8_BUS <= B"1111_1111";
BIT_9_BUS <= O"353";
BIT_16_BUS <= X"AA55";
constant TWO_LINE_MSG : string := "Hello" & CR & "World";

Full example

-- example code from: http://www.csee.umbc.edu/portal/help/VHDL/samples/samples.html
library IEEE;
use IEEE.std_logic_1164.all;

entity fadd is               -- full adder stage, interface
  port(a    : in  std_logic;
       b    : in  std_logic;
       cin  : in  std_logic;
       s    : out std_logic;
       cout : out std_logic);
end entity fadd;

architecture circuits of fadd is  -- full adder stage, body
begin  -- circuits of fadd
  s <= a xor b xor cin after 1 ns;
  cout <= (a and b) or (a and cin) or (b and cin) after 1 ns;
end architecture circuits; -- of fadd

library IEEE;
use IEEE.std_logic_1164.all;
entity add32 is             -- simple 32 bit ripple carry adder
  port(a    : in  std_logic_vector(31 downto 0);
       b    : in  std_logic_vector(31 downto 0);
       cin  : in  std_logic;
       sum  : out std_logic_vector(31 downto 0);
       cout : out std_logic);
end entity add32;

architecture circuits of add32 is
  signal c : std_logic_vector(0 to 30); -- internal carry signals
begin  -- circuits of add32
  a0: entity WORK.fadd port map(a(0), b(0), cin, sum(0), c(0));
  stage: for I in 1 to 30 generate
             as: entity WORK.fadd port map(a(I), b(I), c(I-1) , sum(I), c(I));
         end generate stage;
  a31: entity WORK.fadd port map(a(31), b(31), c(30) , sum(31), cout);
end architecture circuits;  -- of add32

use STD.textio.all;
library IEEE;
use IEEE.std_logic_1164.all;
use IEEE.std_logic_textio.all;

entity signal_trace is
end signal_trace;

architecture circuits of signal_trace is
  signal a:    std_logic_vector(31 downto 0) := x"00000000";
  signal b:    std_logic_vector(31 downto 0) := x"FFFFFFFF";
  signal cin:  std_logic := '1';
  signal cout: std_logic;
  signal sum:  std_logic_vector(31 downto 0);
begin  -- circuits of signal_trace
  adder: entity WORK.add32 port map(a, b, cin, sum, cout); -- parallel circuit

  prtsum: process (sum)
            variable my_line : LINE;
            alias swrite is write [line, string, side, width] ;
          begin
            swrite(my_line, "sum=");
            write(my_line, sum);
            swrite(my_line, ",  at=");
            write(my_line, now);
            writeline(output, my_line);
          end process prtsum;

end architecture circuits; -- of signal_trace