Learn electronics by practice

I&#x27;m a math dropout, now self-taught software engineer who has been spending the summer filling in gaps in my CS education. Programming language implementation finally started to click for me -- bytecode interpreters and compilers are much less intimidating for me than they were several months ago. And now having implemented my own (toy) interpreters, I&#x27;m interested for the first time in understanding some of the nitty gritty details of how hardware components work. So I started working through the nand2tetris projects and tinkering with breadboards, and wow. This stuff is so much fun! I&#x27;m bummed I didn&#x27;t start sooner<p>I never really imagined I would be interested in this stuff, much less find it kind of beautiful. Pure math brain, if you aren&#x27;t careful, can train you to view anything applied with disdain, and something as earthy as hardware even moreso. But it&#x27;s kind of beautiful how there are deep and inevitable connections between some of the most abstract theory computer science has to offer (plt, pl design and implementation) and the way physical objects are harnessed for computation. I guess if you consider that von Neumann was a mathematician first and foremost then it starts to make more sense<p>Either way, I&#x27;m having a great time -- definitely recommend anyone in a similar position learn this stuff whenever you&#x27;re ready for it

I opened this thinking I was the target audience - a longtime developer who has always wanted to get into electronics. However, this first paragraph...<p>&gt; In order to present our paradigm in learning electronics, we can take an example of a full adder chip that enables binary addition. Let us use a top-down approach, and look at the datasheet of the TTL (Transistor-Transistor Logic) chip 7483. We will immediately notice that the chip performs the addition of two 4-bit binary words, A and B.<p>...and the associated diagram, just immediately left me feeling like I was standing in a room full of people who were smarter than me. Is this really where one <i>starts</i> while learning basic electronics?

To the folks I&#x27;ve seen in this thread despairing about how this seems really, really hard at first brush: it is. This is not really a page of intro level electronics concepts. Doesn&#x27;t mention a whole lot about voltage, current, time vs frequency response, or how to get a grasp on any of those concepts.<p>If you want a gentler intro that walks you through some of the foundational concepts, Analog Devices has some great free courses on Circuit Theory:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;wiki.analog.com&#x2F;university&#x2F;courses&#x2F;circuits#circuits_i" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;wiki.analog.com&#x2F;university&#x2F;courses&#x2F;circuits#circuits...</a><p>And another great one on electronics:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;wiki.analog.com&#x2F;university&#x2F;courses&#x2F;electronics&#x2F;text&#x2F;electronics-toc" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;wiki.analog.com&#x2F;university&#x2F;courses&#x2F;electronics&#x2F;text&#x2F;...</a><p>They are the best in the business at analog circuit design and A&#x2F;D conversion. Worthy of your attention if you&#x27;re serious about learning this stuff.

It goes without saying that Ben Eater&#x27;s 8-bit computer kits [1] are like Legos for wannabe-electronics nerds. The kits themselves were the response of the outpouring of requests from viewers of his amazing YouTube channel where he first rose to notoriety for his breadboard CPU and computer.<p>I am currently assembling his 6502 breadboard computer (with the 16 x 2 LCD character display).<p>Someone put together an awesome &quot;1-100 Transistor Projects&quot; as a PDF [2] for learning how transistor circuits work. The PDF + breadboard + a dozen or so transistors and small parts will keep you busy.<p>There&#x27;s a sequel &quot;101-200 Transistor Circuits&quot; [3], one on IC circuits [4] and one on the venerable 555 timer chip [5].<p>The above should keep you busy for the rest of the year. If not, be sure to skim through some of the electronics hobbyist magazines [6].<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;eater.net" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;eater.net</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.org&#x2F;details&#x2F;1To100TransistorCircuits" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.org&#x2F;details&#x2F;1To100TransistorCircuits</a><p>[3] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.talkingelectronics.com&#x2F;projects&#x2F;200TrCcts&#x2F;101-200TrCcts.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.talkingelectronics.com&#x2F;projects&#x2F;200TrCcts&#x2F;101-20...</a><p>[4] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.talkingelectronics.com&#x2F;projects&#x2F;100%20IC%20Circuits&#x2F;1-100_IC-Ccts.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.talkingelectronics.com&#x2F;projects&#x2F;100%20IC%20Circu...</a><p>[5] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.talkingelectronics.com&#x2F;projects&#x2F;50%20-%20555%20Circuits&#x2F;50%20-%20555%20Circuits.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.talkingelectronics.com&#x2F;projects&#x2F;50%20-%20555%20C...</a><p>[6] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;worldradiohistory.com&#x2F;Popular-Electronics-Guide.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;worldradiohistory.com&#x2F;Popular-Electronics-Guide.htm</a>

This is great - been building a list of resources to learn electronics[1] and will definitely be adding this!<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;hardwareteams.com&#x2F;docs&#x2F;analog&#x2F;circuits-resouces&#x2F;" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;hardwareteams.com&#x2F;docs&#x2F;analog&#x2F;circuits-resouces&#x2F;</a>

If I learned this way, it would have been off-putting.<p>So much nicer to grab an ardunio, motor, led, some sensors, etc...<p>Then graduate to esp8266&#x2F;esp32.<p>But maybe I&#x27;m thinking embedded and my 2 years as an electrical engineer filled in some of the gaps when calculating things.<p>Eh, just my opinion.

Best book on the topic for people w&#x2F;o EE degree who want to learn practical EE (in my humble opinion):<p>&quot;Practical Electronics for Inventors, Fourth Edition&quot;<p>Book by Paul Scherz and Simon Monk<p>Word on the street is that it can be found on <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;libgen.is&#x2F;" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;libgen.is&#x2F;</a>

FWIW, it&#x27;s digital electronics

Please check this book by Ex-Google, Cisco, Sun engineer and adjunct professor of UC Berkeley,Ed Lipiansky on electronics fundamentals (analog and digital):<p>Electrical, Electronics, and Digital Hardware Essentials for Scientists and Engineers:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.wiley.com&#x2F;en-us&#x2F;Electrical,+Electronics,+and+Digital+Hardware+Essentials+for+Scientists+and+Engineers-p-9781118414552" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.wiley.com&#x2F;en-us&#x2F;Electrical,+Electronics,+and+Dig...</a>

I miss electronics retail, even with its issues. Radio Shack had the Forrest Mims engineer&#x27;s notebooks for learning electronics, and it was great to be able to drive down to a Fry&#x27;s to pick up a component that you needed in a hurry on a weekend.<p>Shout out to Anchor Electronics in Santa Clara, San Mateo Electronics Supply, and of course Jameco, which are still alive.<p>I&#x27;m also lamenting the loss of SF Bay area electronics surplus: Weird Stuff, Halted&#x2F;HSC, and the latest casualty, Excess Solutions. Is there any place left around here to find used&#x2F;surplus electronics?

Personally, this guy[0] eased me back into electronics, very clear explanations and beginner friendly.<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;vocademy.net&#x2F;" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;vocademy.net&#x2F;</a>

Someone rewrote a bunch of text books from the 1970s and put them on the internet. Unless you work in IC development you don&#x27;t need to know how comparators work internally. The logic gate examples are slighly less obsolete (early 1980s). This is yet another joke introduction written by a hobbyist who wants to mess with individual transistors for no purpose. There are no practical applications for these examples and there is no learning value in them.

Learn Basic Electronics... Build a legendary ping game.... that escalated quickly!<p>Looks like a really cool resource if you want to do the more old fashioned analog&#x2F;discrete stuff.<p>Definitely a lot different than what I would probably show someone if they wanted to do hobby level more modern digital work, but it seems perfect for someone who wants to do stuff with transistors and logic gates.

Is what this website teaches useful in the real world? What I mean is - is there a demand for people who know digital electronics or is it mainly for people who are curious how chips work?

Do any of these books have a purchase list of components to purchase?