Analysis and comparison of nine different Hardware Description Languages is presented. Comparison features are discussed and each language is analysed according to the comparison features, which are: sequencing mechanisms, applicability to generic structures, abstraction of data and operation, timing mode, communication mechanisms, and instantiation and interconnection of elements. Based on the analysis of the languages, optimal constructs for chip level modeling are extracted. Example descriptions of a microprocessor system MARK 2 are presented. / M.S.