Asynchronous or self-timed systems that do not rely on a global clock to keep system components synchronized can offer significant advantages over traditional clocked circuits in a variety of applications. However, design of self-timed systems has long been considered too difficult because of the specialized circuits required and the lack of tools available to help the designer explore the potential of such systems. This article describes one approach to ease the design and implementation of self-timed systems that involves compiling concurrent process descriptions directly into self-timed circuits.