5 ms·

i don't recommend this book at all. I know nothing about electronics. Think blank slate and this book went straight over my head. I caught it from the comments

i don't recommend this book at all. I know nothing about electronics. Think blank slate and this book went straight over my head. I caught it from the comments of one such post on HN

_moof 2y ago
Try pairing it with the companion "Learning the Art of Electronics." It's a hands-on lab workbook that complements the main book. It's very practical.
- moffkalast 2y ago
  Or better yet, the "Learning the Learning the Art of Electronics" which breaks down the companion book.
  - diggan 2y ago
    I'm awaiting the blog series that breaks down the breaking down book further, "Learning the Learning the Learning the Art of Electronics".
rramadass 2y ago
AoE is not meant for people who are starting from zero. Pair it with some other "popular electronics" kind of books and it will start making better sense. One recommendation is Practical Electronics for Inventors by Paul Scherz and Simon Monk. For theory see Foundations of Analog and Digital Electronic Circuits by Anant Agarwal and Jeffrey Lang.
- vivzkestrel 2y ago
  while this book is simpler, i am still struggling with a lot of stuff, here page 6 https://imgur.com/a/83FQnAx https://imgur.com/a/83FQnAx What graph did they plot to derive delta Q / delta T I can tell that on the y axis they had time but I would have loved to see a representation of what the curve on the x axis would look like. A wire is uniform only in theory, in reality its area would keep fluctuating at every mm by very small amounts. Does this equation actually take the effect of this fluctuation. What does A1 and A2 look like, I am assuming A2- A1 = delta Q right? There needs to be an even more grounded book in electronics, something that you can show to a guy who literally has no idea about electronics in the slightest bit and by the end of the book, the guy is a master at it
  - rramadass 2y ago
    This is basic Mathematics from introductory Differential Calculus. Refresh your memory from any Calculus book; if you don't know Calculus at all read Calculus: Basic Concepts for High Schools by Tarasov which you can get here - https://mirtitles.org/2018/09/04/calculus-basic-concepts-for-high-schools-tarasov/ https://mirtitles.org/2018/09/04/calculus-basic-concepts-for... Your picture is simple enough; but you have mixed up dq (this is the dependent function on the Y-axis) and dt (this is the independent variable on the X-axis) infinitesimals. Their ratio is simply the instantaneous rate of change of electric charge w.r.t. time which is what is the instantaneous electric current. As to the cross-sectional area of a wire varying over its length and how it affects current through it, you can neglect it for short wires and using a specific wire gauge for all normal electronics. > There needs to be an even more grounded book in electronics, something that you can show to a guy who literally has no idea about electronics in the slightest bit and by the end of the book, the guy is a master at it Electronics = Physics+Mathematics+Logical Thinking and there can be no shortcuts to its study. You have to put in some effort to study the subject. However things have been simplified and modularized to such a great extent nowadays that you can learn and do a great deal without understanding much of the mathematics and physics involved. The submitted book link in this post is a good basic one to start from.
    - weard_beard 2y ago
      I would love a book that gives a layman’s understanding of how to read and dissect a board you pull out of common modern device. Say a roomba. You might not know how or why each component works in detail at the end, but instead understand why the board is laid out the way it is and where each component controlling the functions and logic live, what might be broken, and whether and how to repair. I think if I were an impatient student with an interest in electronics that’s what I’d want. Then go back and study individual components, math, physics, and theory. You could make a whole series: radio boards, home appliance boards, PC motherboards, car boards, etc.
      - rramadass 2y ago
        Reverse Engineering a PCB is a well known field (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCB_reverse_engineering https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCB_reverse_engineering); but you still have to have some knowledge of individual components, math, physics, and theory before you can get started with this. There is plenty of material and videos on the web if you search for it; also a book The Art of PCB Reverse Engineering: Unraveling the Beauty of the Original Design by Ng Keng Tiong.
YZF 2y ago
I can see how that would happen. When I first read the book I was definitely not a blank slate. But it's still a good recommendation for those with a little bit of knowledge who want a deeper understanding. At least it was for me. You'll only get so far without knowing the things in the book which are also introductory in nature. If you don't know Ohm's law. You don't know what a resistor is. You've never built a simple circuit. Then this book may not be for you. Or it may if you're willing to put in the effort.
- vivzkestrel 2y ago
  see now this is where I could totally use a recommendation. I dont know what a capacitor is, what a resistor is or what ohm's law is. I would expect there is atleast one book out there that can teach even an absolutely noob like me how to build a microcontroller circuit board from scratch. I mean not on page 1 obviously but maybe on page 1037?
  - YZF 2y ago
    The way to do this back in the day was to read application notes (in real books ;) that the chip vendors would print and give you for free). You would have everything spelled out in example circuits that you could put together yourself. I'm not sure where things stand today. I googled and found one example: https://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/aemDocuments/documents/APID/ApplicationNotes/ApplicationNotes/00215c.pdf https://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/aemDocuments/documents/A...

i don't recommend this book at all. I know nothing about electronics. Think blank slate and this book went straight over my head. I caught it from the comments of one such post on HN

_moof 2y ago

Try pairing it with the companion "Learning the Art of Electronics." It's a hands-on lab workbook that complements the main book. It's very practical.

moffkalast 2y ago
Or better yet, the "Learning the Learning the Art of Electronics" which breaks down the companion book.
- diggan 2y ago
  I'm awaiting the blog series that breaks down the breaking down book further, "Learning the Learning the Learning the Art of Electronics".

rramadass 2y ago

AoE is not meant for people who are starting from zero. Pair it with some other "popular electronics" kind of books and it will start making better sense. One recommendation is Practical Electronics for Inventors by Paul Scherz and Simon Monk. For theory see Foundations of Analog and Digital Electronic Circuits by Anant Agarwal and Jeffrey Lang.

vivzkestrel 2y ago
while this book is simpler, i am still struggling with a lot of stuff, here page 6 https://imgur.com/a/83FQnAx https://imgur.com/a/83FQnAx What graph did they plot to derive delta Q / delta T I can tell that on the y axis they had time but I would have loved to see a representation of what the curve on the x axis would look like. A wire is uniform only in theory, in reality its area would keep fluctuating at every mm by very small amounts. Does this equation actually take the effect of this fluctuation. What does A1 and A2 look like, I am assuming A2- A1 = delta Q right? There needs to be an even more grounded book in electronics, something that you can show to a guy who literally has no idea about electronics in the slightest bit and by the end of the book, the guy is a master at it
- rramadass 2y ago
  This is basic Mathematics from introductory Differential Calculus. Refresh your memory from any Calculus book; if you don't know Calculus at all read Calculus: Basic Concepts for High Schools by Tarasov which you can get here - https://mirtitles.org/2018/09/04/calculus-basic-concepts-for-high-schools-tarasov/ https://mirtitles.org/2018/09/04/calculus-basic-concepts-for... Your picture is simple enough; but you have mixed up dq (this is the dependent function on the Y-axis) and dt (this is the independent variable on the X-axis) infinitesimals. Their ratio is simply the instantaneous rate of change of electric charge w.r.t. time which is what is the instantaneous electric current. As to the cross-sectional area of a wire varying over its length and how it affects current through it, you can neglect it for short wires and using a specific wire gauge for all normal electronics. > There needs to be an even more grounded book in electronics, something that you can show to a guy who literally has no idea about electronics in the slightest bit and by the end of the book, the guy is a master at it Electronics = Physics+Mathematics+Logical Thinking and there can be no shortcuts to its study. You have to put in some effort to study the subject. However things have been simplified and modularized to such a great extent nowadays that you can learn and do a great deal without understanding much of the mathematics and physics involved. The submitted book link in this post is a good basic one to start from.
  - weard_beard 2y ago
    I would love a book that gives a layman’s understanding of how to read and dissect a board you pull out of common modern device. Say a roomba. You might not know how or why each component works in detail at the end, but instead understand why the board is laid out the way it is and where each component controlling the functions and logic live, what might be broken, and whether and how to repair. I think if I were an impatient student with an interest in electronics that’s what I’d want. Then go back and study individual components, math, physics, and theory. You could make a whole series: radio boards, home appliance boards, PC motherboards, car boards, etc.
    - rramadass 2y ago
      Reverse Engineering a PCB is a well known field (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCB_reverse_engineering https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCB_reverse_engineering); but you still have to have some knowledge of individual components, math, physics, and theory before you can get started with this. There is plenty of material and videos on the web if you search for it; also a book The Art of PCB Reverse Engineering: Unraveling the Beauty of the Original Design by Ng Keng Tiong.

YZF 2y ago

I can see how that would happen. When I first read the book I was definitely not a blank slate. But it's still a good recommendation for those with a little bit of knowledge who want a deeper understanding. At least it was for me. You'll only get so far without knowing the things in the book which are also introductory in nature. If you don't know Ohm's law. You don't know what a resistor is. You've never built a simple circuit. Then this book may not be for you. Or it may if you're willing to put in the effort.

vivzkestrel 2y ago
see now this is where I could totally use a recommendation. I dont know what a capacitor is, what a resistor is or what ohm's law is. I would expect there is atleast one book out there that can teach even an absolutely noob like me how to build a microcontroller circuit board from scratch. I mean not on page 1 obviously but maybe on page 1037?
- YZF 2y ago
  The way to do this back in the day was to read application notes (in real books ;) that the chip vendors would print and give you for free). You would have everything spelled out in example circuits that you could put together yourself. I'm not sure where things stand today. I googled and found one example: https://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/aemDocuments/documents/APID/ApplicationNotes/ApplicationNotes/00215c.pdf https://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/aemDocuments/documents/A...