VHDL is a hardware description language used to design digital systems from the gate level to the VLSI module level. There are two main types of representation in VHDL - behavioral/dataflow and structural. The behavioral representation models the logic of a system using boolean expressions, while the structural representation models the physical interconnection of components. A basic VHDL program structure includes an entity declaration defining the inputs and outputs, and an architecture body specifying how the system is implemented either behaviorally or structurally using components.