I'm asking a subjective question. Would you start by drawing out the main parts like the op amp microphone etc then figure out how to connect them? Or would you look up a basic circuit then start modifying it? I can read circuits but I can't really build them. The most I can do is take one and change a few parts so I'm trying to best figure out if memorization is better or experimentation.
As far as the values go do you just guess at them and see what works when you build it or do you use a formula like e=IR for each one then build it and see if the values are too high low?
When learning in school do they teach you a whole bunch of circuits or do they tech you the parts in such detail that the circuits just become an exercise of the mind vs recalling a memory?
You start out in your mind with an idea of what you want to achieve, and what steps are required to get there.
For each step, you need a functional building block that can perform that operation or function. In your mind, you will have by learning and experience a collection of possible building blocks you could use. You will pick one of them based on what is available, or by various other factors that help to limit your choice.
In this way, you build up the whole design block by block.
I'm asking a subjective question. Would you start by drawing out the main parts like the op amp microphone etc then figure out how to connect them? Or would you look up a basic circuit then start modifying it? I can read circuits but I can't really build them. The most I can do is take one and change a few parts so I'm trying to best figure out if memorization is better or experimentation. As far as the values go do you just guess at them and see what works when you build it or do you use a formula like e=IR for each one then build it and see if the values are too high low? If you were making this from scratch would you use an oscilloscope or just a simple multimeter to get it working (assuming you don't use the scope as a meter because you are that good)?
I realize there isn't one answer to this but it would interesting to see if there is a right way based on what I know about members vs a lazy way or more build it see what happens then work out the math vs do all your experimentation with formulas...
When learning in school do they teach you a whole bunch of circuits or do they tech you the parts in such detail that the circuits just become an exercise of the mind vs recalling a memory?
https://youtu.be/b0A_5H801rk
Hmmm... don't have a reply to your question, but after looking at your previous posts and this one, you ask some very thought provoking, interesting questions.
A good example should be the microSupply that Dave made. You start from a small and simple circuit then start adding complexity until everything works as you like.
When learning in school do they teach you a whole bunch of circuits or do they tech you the parts in such detail that the circuits just become an exercise of the mind vs recalling a memory?
While on subject how can you send logic level signals from an arduino to another device (like a relay board with it's own power supply and MCU) when they don't share a common ground? I thought they would have to be joined together or use the same power supply to do this. Can you really just send one +5V lead to anothers I/O and have it work? I see things that look like this but it doesn'tmake sense like connecting one side of a battery.
FWIW:
Notice that design works in permutation space. That is:
1. We have some variable set of components.
2. Components have pins.
3. The list of connections between pins goes potentially as (pins)! (that's the factorial operator). In a real design, the connections will be sparse, so the size of the space is on the order of, say, 4 choose 100 (that's the 'choose' operator).
Needless to say, the space is large, so you cannot memorize solutions.
That's fortunate for us engineers, who get paid to solve for points in that space.
We of course narrow down that space considerably, by applying electrical rules (any number of inputs can be connected together, and must connect to only one output; outputs cannot connect together), and using building blocks (amps, gates, current and voltage sources and sinks, switches, filters, etc.) to bring order to the mess (say, reducing a problem of 4 choose 100, to more like 3 choose 20 -- which is still pretty big to attack by brute force, mind you).
BTW, a "space" is a set of coordinates over some range. A linear space might be, for example, an array of numbers. 3D space is defined by three axes, numbered over +/-infinity. A permutation space is more specialized, but nonetheless is still just a set of coordinates. If you assign a numbered net to each pin, then all pins that have the same number are connected together on that same net; if different pins connect to that net (even if it's the same number of pins), it's a different circuit. So, different permutations are different circuits, and we have a permutation space. A permutation space is different because it's exclusive: you can't have one pin connecting to two nets at the same time, that's silly, it's just one net all shorted together. That just reduces to a simpler case.
So, any design approaches, algorithms, compiler designs, all that stuff -- anything that applies to a permutation space, can potentially apply to electronic design.
I don't know if that helps, but there's the joke about how mathematicians solve problems. You see, they never actually solve any problems, they just restate the problem in terms of some other already-solved problem, and they're done.
Tim
FWIW:
Notice that design works in permutation space. That is:
1. We have some variable set of components.
2. Components have pins.
3. The list of connections between pins goes potentially as (pins)! (that's the factorial operator). In a real design, the connections will be sparse, so the size of the space is on the order of, say, 4 choose 100 (that's the 'choose' operator).
Needless to say, the space is large, so you cannot memorize solutions.
That's fortunate for us engineers, who get paid to solve for points in that space.
We of course narrow down that space considerably, by applying electrical rules (any number of inputs can be connected together, and must connect to only one output; outputs cannot connect together), and using building blocks (amps, gates, current and voltage sources and sinks, switches, filters, etc.) to bring order to the mess (say, reducing a problem of 4 choose 100, to more like 3 choose 20 -- which is still pretty big to attack by brute force, mind you).
BTW, a "space" is a set of coordinates over some range. A linear space might be, for example, an array of numbers. 3D space is defined by three axes, numbered over +/-infinity. A permutation space is more specialized, but nonetheless is still just a set of coordinates. If you assign a numbered net to each pin, then all pins that have the same number are connected together on that same net; if different pins connect to that net (even if it's the same number of pins), it's a different circuit. So, different permutations are different circuits, and we have a permutation space. A permutation space is different because it's exclusive: you can't have one pin connecting to two nets at the same time, that's silly, it's just one net all shorted together. That just reduces to a simpler case.
So, any design approaches, algorithms, compiler designs, all that stuff -- anything that applies to a permutation space, can potentially apply to electronic design.
I don't know if that helps, but there's the joke about how mathematicians solve problems. You see, they never actually solve any problems, they just restate the problem in terms of some other already-solved problem, and they're done.
Tim
Well.
I have to say,these days ,there's no fun in making electronics.Computer does most of the stuff for you and the stuff you do these days is just buy parts and get them together on a board and program it.
Back in the analogue and semi digital days, You would have to spend weeks diagnosing and fixing problems and since every device was a a different thing unlike today's smartphone which is literally everything fitted into a single unit, the demand for electronics engineers was pretty high.These days ,its more like either you are soc making Phd guy or nothing.
Now people like us have to spend more time thinking about how we can create new kinds of bulls#!ts like dongles,supporting peripherals that no one really needs (like gaming gear),internet of things,blockchains etc just t get a little bit of money from consumers.\
Either that,or you work in the industry of making industrial gear/research gear.
In EE school, they mostly teach you how to ANALYZE circuits. This is a mostly "forward" process, reducing loops and nodes to simultaneous linear equations, reducing them and then solving them. This is how circuit simulator programs work, This is fairly easily taught, it is mostly mathematics. Coming up with circuits is a lot harder, but without analysis, you are just blind. With analysis, you can select likely generic circuits, write an equation for the generic response, and then figure out the component values to get the specific response (gain, frequency response, etc.) you need.
Either that,or you work in the industry of making industrial gear/research gear.
I am, and it's both fun and challenging. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it, and then it wouldn't be fun.