Also, just to answer your actual question: If you're going to use a language like Chisel or Clash, I'd probably recommend you at least have working familiarity

Also, just to answer your actual question: If you're going to use a language like Chisel or Clash, I'd probably recommend you at least have working familiarity with the languages they're based in -- e.g. Scala or Haskell (or Python for MyHDL, or whatever). Start there, learn some of the fundamentals, and you'll be more equipped to start describing actual hardware. If you've been doing VHDL/Verilog for 20 years, but haven't done FP/software, then some things will probably seem obvious, while others may be harder to initially understand (e.g. designs in Scala or Haskell are going to heavily leverage abstractions present in the base language, so familiarity with them helps). Generally, these tools are going to expect some level of familiarity with the base language, and most of the material around them is going to be rooted on that assumption. So if you've never done FP, or Scala, or Haskell, it'll likely be more difficult. Although I don't think its insurmountable. I've been thinking recently it might be fun to write an article introducing Clash from a hardware design perspective, for people without prior Haskell/FP/etc experience. It certainly seems there isn't much material out there along these lines, IMO.