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programming geek to learn practical electronics

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csharpboy

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hi,

I'm quite a kick ass computer programming and I turned Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist Windows Development before I was 18 just sometime ago, so now i want to understand electronics very practically, when I younger I took apart most of my electronic toys wondering what made them tick, so now i want to put them back together!

I decent in math and physics and I'm still trying to learn pure math and calculus on my own properly (I'm going to pass my A levels privately this year hopefully) I tried reading Art of electronics by Horowitz/Hill and its way to complicated and theoretical and after almost one chapter it wasn't fun, these 2 books available at the library, should i read the robotics books directly? Will it allow me to actually build something? If not what should I read to build something fun!?

Robotics Demystified by Edwin Wise
**broken link removed**

Electronics Demystified (Demystified Series): A Self-Teching Guide
by Stan Gibilisco
Electronics Demystified (Demystified Series), Demystified Series, Stan Gibilisco, Book - Barnes & Noble


Thanks.
Gideon
 
dont give up on horrowitz and hill so quickly!

I'm reading that book, and it sounds like you are much more math minded than me. The 1st chapter is tough, but you really dont need to understand all the maths to understand whats happening.

My advice would be to get the accompanying student manual for it too (isbn 0-521-37709-9) as it often gives the same information in the text but from a slightly different view point and has helped me understand.
It also has lab exercises to try that reinforce the key points from the text notes, and as you will find out if you keep reading, the first 3-4 chapters are very hard but the rest of the book is much more fun and easilly understood. Its really worth slogging through those early chapters though.

what parts of the text in particular are you struggling to understand? The guys on here are very friendly and will help you if your stuck.
 
Better start with Electronic Devices and Circuit theory- by Floyd- Ebook available at rapidlibrary ... or if you like ,, then you may start with Digital .... i.e start with Digital Fundamentals-Floyd- also available at rapidlibrary.com... Take a look at them... by the way i am fresh student of Electronic Engineering and i want help in programming to hardware interface through parallel,serial and usb port...so can you give me some tips ,,how to start with.????? i am good at 'C'.. and also do know VB6...
 
hi,

To confounded, maybe i'm more math minded but thats because i just want to learn it badly but i've just had too much trouble and failure so far! i really want to learn pure, especially calculus and i'm having quite a tough time even with the thomas/finney calculus book.

The problem with the horowitz book is its just lots of information and theory with nothing practical so i barely remember anything, I've not even completed the first chapter really but the real aim is, I'm giving my a levels privately and I need to nail physics and my hope is maybe learning each sub branch of physics individually(classical mech, electro-magnetism,relativity,quantum mech thermo dynamics), so I'm also afraid horowitz is going to far deep.

So I need to learn electronics 1. to be able to apply it practically 2. study it quickly enough to understand the electronics for my physics paper because I have a lot of other stuff to study too.


To tariq, thats for mentioning the books, I'll look into it. About interfacing with hardware, its also something I *hoped* i could do, so far i know there are articles on codeproject.com for interfacing with the COM and serial ports. Don't know about USB but you'll be alright if you choose something higher on the abstraction ladder like C#, with C you're going to have trouble with the API which is tough, and then VB6s crappy or well I just detest BASIC syntax, I would highly recommend C# or VB.NET which ever you're more comfortable.

Thanks

Gideon
 
I've found electronics to be not something you can learn quickly, if you just want to be able to follow a schematic and know roughly what each component does i'd recommend 'electronics for dummies' i read that before starting horowitz and hill its also got some basic circuits for you to try and build.
 
csharp, I"ve read "Teach yourself electricity and electronics" from Stan Gibilsco and found his technical writing style to be not so great. I'm much happier reading The Art of Electronics right now, there are a LOT more practical circuits. If you've read the first chapter of The Art of Electronis you should realizes he states quiet clearly that you shouldn't try to memorize all the equations you see as holy writ, just get a feel for how the basic components work and you can gloss over the bulk of the math. I'm not sure why you think the art of electronics is all theory, 90% of the circuits he refrences are all practical working examples including all component specifications.

You WILL get intimated learning electronics especially to start there's a lot of information you need to take in. I'm still just a weekend hack and I've been playing with this stuff for several years.
The learning electronics website refrenced above is a good one, great place to start. Don't forget about all your online resources, there are tons out there. Although books are good too.

One thing I would suggest is pick yourself up a copy of LTspice. It's an electronics simulator. It has about as steep a learning curve as electronics itself does but it allows you to put components together and visually explore how they interact with absolutly no math involved. It comes with plenty of example circuits and you can play around with many different kinds of parts any which way you want and don't ahve toe worry about burning out real world components. It help I think visually the best because you can probe voltage current or power from any point in the circuit in relation to any other point in the circuit with just a few mouse clicks so that you can 'SEE' what is going on rather than have to struggle through the math.

I understand capacitors and inductors just fine, but until I simulated a few simple capacitor/inductor tank circuits with sweeping frequencies I didn't really have a feel for what was going on. You can pop a graph up of the voltage at any point, it's like having a full test bench and million dollar osciliscope to play with, and it's free.
 
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csharp, I"ve read "Teach yourself electricity and electronics" from Stan Gibilsco and found his technical writing style to be not so great. I'm much happier reading The Art of Electronics right now, there are a LOT more practical circuits. If you've read the first chapter of The Art of Electronis you should realizes he states quiet clearly that you shouldn't try to memorize all the equations you see as holy writ, just get a feel for how the basic components work and you can gloss over the bulk of the math. I'm not sure why you think the art of electronics is all theory, 90% of the circuits he refrences are all practical working examples including all component specifications.

You WILL get intimated learning electronics especially to start there's a lot of information you need to take in. I'm still just a weekend hack and I've been playing with this stuff for several years.
The learning electronics website refrenced above is a good one, great place to start. Don't forget about all your online resources, there are tons out there. Although books are good too.

One thing I would suggest is pick yourself up a copy of LTspice. It's an electronics simulator. It has about as steep a learning curve as electronics itself does but it allows you to put components together and visually explore how they interact with absolutly no math involved. It comes with plenty of example circuits and you can play around with many different kinds of parts any which way you want and don't ahve toe worry about burning out real world components. It help I think visually the best because you can probe voltage current or power from any point in the circuit in relation to any other point in the circuit with just a few mouse clicks so that you can 'SEE' what is going on rather than have to struggle through the math.

I understand capacitors and inductors just fine, but until I simulated a few simple capacitor/inductor tank circuits with sweeping frequencies I didn't really have a feel for what was going on. You can pop a graph up of the voltage at any point, it's like having a full test bench and million dollar osciliscope to play with, and it's free.

The Art Of Electronic is much better...
 
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