The other popular architecture is the CPLD (complex programmable logic device) which grew out of the PALs (programmable array logic) of the late 1970s. Altera p

The other popular architecture is the CPLD (complex programmable logic device) which grew out of the PALs (programmable array logic) of the late 1970s. Altera pioneered the CPLD and Xilinx the FPGA in the mid 1980s. Until recently "FPGA" was used for tile based architectures and "CPLD" for macroblock architectures, but marketing has redefined the terms such that small FPGAs are now called CPLDs if they are non volatile (they are already configured when you turn them on).