> go to great extents to workout things on paper Yeah, seriously. The explanation I always give to software people is to look at how much complex high level sy

> go to great extents to workout things on paper Yeah, seriously. The explanation I always give to software people is to look at how much complex high level systems programming relies on debuggers, IDEs, frameworks, compiler warnings, etc. Now tear all that away (yes, there are JTAG debuggers and whatnot, but it's a different ball game). If you just dive in and start coding you will get lost, especially in cases where your system involves significant interplay between fields. For example, you are writing C code on an SoC hard core, which is talking to IP blocks and custom logic on the accompanying FPGA, which is talking over various interfaces to some high speed PCB you've made, which is talking to some proprietary PCB you didn't make. Okay, now where is the bug? Print statements ain't gonna cut it. You have to have a very clear idea of the principles at play: signal integrity, digital systems, E&M, communication protocols, HDL synthesis, and more. That's why hardware is hard.