SystemC provides a robust set of extensions to the C++ language that enables rapid development of complex models of hardware and software systems. The authors focus on the practical use of the language for modeling real systems, showing a step-by-step build-up of syntax, code examples for each concept, and over 8000 lines of downloadable code examples. Updates reflect the SystemC standard, IEEE 1666, explaining why features are as they are, including many resource references and how SystemC fits into an ESL methodology. This new edition of an industry best seller is updated to reflect the standardization of SystemC as IEEE 1666 and other improvements that incorporate feedback from readers of the first edition. The wide-ranging feedback also includes suggestions from editors of the Japanese and Korean language translations, professors and students, and computer engineers from a broad industrial and geographical spectrum.