Books and general info

[Timmymna]

I am planning on starting an electronic engineering degree next year and was wondering if there are any books or info I could be reading up on over the year. I have done an A level in system and control which is mainly based on electronics so I have some knowledge but like to expand on this before uni.

Are there any books or info that anyone can suggest I read or would recommend I purchase? Or on the other hand, any projects I could try out at home?

Thanks

 

[plot]

You could work on specific things like learning assembly language, some vhdl language, or something of that sort, or you could work on basic things like your math skills, good solid algebra skills as well as calculus, etc. will be a big help at uni :wink:

 

[jrz126]

as for the projects, I'd recommend taking an interest you already have and trying to find some project based on that.

I'm interested in cars and car audio, so my projects pretty much involve my car or car stereo.

 

[Timmymna]

Thanks plot, I am currently doing A level maths so that should keep me up to speed, hopefully I had a quick look into assembly a while ago but never tried to learn it, that can be no1 on my list

jrz126, I'm kind of doing that atm but I'll have to read up some more before I start on that. Also you mention cars, I am currently looking for an audio car solution. I was thinking carputer but I'm not sure on what to use as the display. Any ideas or links?

 

[stevez]

On the recommendation of an EE student (3rd yr college here in US) I purchased "Practical Electronics for Inventors" by Paul Scherz. While not a beginner's book and not a replacement for an organized program of study the book has enough information to allow a reasonably intelligent and driven person to work with electronics.

 

[jrz126]

jrz126, I'm kind of doing that atm but I'll have to read up some more before I start on that. Also you mention cars, I am currently looking for an audio car solution. I was thinking carputer but I'm not sure on what to use as the display. Any ideas or links?

You'll need a small lcd screen, and power supply for the pc. I have one in my car (not hooked up at the moment), I used to have a ps2 in there but I need to make a better enclosure for it.


www.mp3car.com has some products plus a message board.

 

[Timmymna]

Thanks stevez, found the book on Amazon, looks like the sort of thing I'm looking for Ill have a look see if I can find it in a book shop to have a flick through

Thanks jrz Ill have a read of the forums there, looks like a great place to start

 

[bmcculla]

I'd recommend learning C or C++. Knowing the basics of a programming language will make any CS classes you take much easier. It also might let you skip the dull introduction Programming classes. For a university degree I'd say knowing a high level language will be more important than learing assembly. I had a bunch of classes that required High level languages (Matlab, C, Java, Scheme) and only one that had assembly and that class was half assembly and half C.

 

[plot]

I'd recommend learning C or C++. Knowing the basics of a programming language will make any CS classes you take much easier. It also might let you skip the dull introduction Programming classes. For a university degree I'd say knowing a high level language will be more important than learing assembly. I had a bunch of classes that required High level languages (Matlab, C, Java, Scheme) and only one that had assembly and that class was half assembly and half C.

C will fall into place and he'll get plenty of experience with it and shouldn't have a problem with it once he can do assembly. In my courses we primarily use asm for programming all of our AVR's, etc... you have alot more control over every aspect of the chip.