The dreaded datasheet! Still a bit scared of those...
Datasheets can look a bit daunting at first, but they are your best friend in electronics and, when you get familiar with them, they are not that hard. Remember that some of the stuff on a datasheet is either boiler-plate or bull. And a lot of the data is simply not needed for the majority of applications.
If you are planning on getting into electronics you must get with datasheets and learn the important parameters for each device type that you would need for normal designs. For example, with opamps, you only need the following parameters:
- Supply lines max and min
- Input voltage range
- Input offset voltage
- Input bias current
- Output voltage swing
- Output current capability
- Frequency response
Also, from the literally thousands of component types available, you only need to stock and know about a relatively few common types to cover most applications. For example, one of the most widely used twin opamps is the LM358. But my goto opamps are the TX711/TX712 and OPA192/OPA2192. The other thing is that many components with different type numbers are either identical or so close that it makes little difference in practice. This is especially the case with BJTs. For example, there are many equivalents to the BC337.
This is my list of complementary goto jellybean bipolar junction transistors (BJTs):
BC546C/BC556C : 65V, 100mA, 500mW, TO92
BC337-40/BC327-40 : 45V, 500mA, 625mW, TO92
TIP41C/TIP42C : 100V, 6A, 65W, 2degCW, 150degC TO220
TIP35C/TIP36C : 100V, 25A, 125W, 1degCW, 150degC TO247
2N3055/MJ2955 : 70V, 15A, 115W, 1.52degCW, 200degC, TO3
Note that this is just my goto list, others will have their own lists. But the important thing is to have a list so that you are not swimming around in a sea of different types.
Of course you will need specialist components but, if you have a solid base of goto components, you can concentrate on learning about the specialist components, without having to worry about the fundamental goto components. For example when designing, the circuit of reply #6, I didn't need to search for a suitable complementary transistor pair. I just dropped in the BC337/BC327s. And if more power were required, just use the TIP41/TIP42s pair from the goto list.
This whole area is part of design (not just electronic) and is known as variety reduction (VR). To take an example you may do a design and calculate that you need a 10nF capacitor here, a 12nF capacitor there and a 70nF capacitor somewhere else. So what you would do is just fit 100nF (goto value) capacitors in all locations. Naturally, some components must have absolute values, the oscillator timing capacitor in reply#6 schematic for example, but in many cases the calculated capacitor values are for minimum values.