good books on electronics engineering/design, beyond an Associate Degree level

[badSCR]

Just got my Associate Degree in "electronics engineering technology"
I am more interested in the designing and prototyping.
I don't have the money or time to continue on to an university for a bachelor's degree, so it will have to be self learned.


So, some book suggestions for more advanced circuit theory and design would be great.

[GeekGirl]

Art of Electronics (usually refereed on EE Boards as AoE) by Horwitz and Hill (I hope I spelt the names right) The book is still only 2nd Ed which was first published in 1989, but is still relevant to basic electronics, there have been rumours of 3rd Ed for the last few years, I believe it is sometime this year, but I have heard this for a year or so

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Electronics

[charliex]

The 3rd edition is getting to be like Duke nukem forever, i see its june 30th/2010 now.

[Zero999]

Art of Electronics (usually refereed on EE Boards as AoE) by Horwitz and Hill (I hope I spelt the names right) The book is still only 2nd Ed which was first published in 1989, but is still relevant to basic electronics, there have been rumours of 3rd Ed for the last few years, I believe it is sometime this year, but I have heard this for a year or so

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Electronics

If you don't have any money you can easily download a PDF ebook from a site I can't post a link to because it's breaking the forum rules, not that I condone piracy.

[Thermal Runaway]

General knowledge:

I would also recommend The Art of Electronics, 2nd Edition.  It is an expensive book, but worth the money in my opinion.

Communications:

If you're into communications Electronics, specifically Signal Processing, then my favourite (after a rather lengthy process of elimination) is Signal Processing & Linear Systems by Lathi.  The industry accepted book in this genre is Signals and Systems by Oppenheim (which I also own) but I found this book suffered from a difficulty in transferring knowledge.  It is written from the point of view of someone who is already an expert in the field.  Lathi's book is better because the complex subjects and mathematics are backed up with quite a lot of explanation, which for me makes a lot more sense.

Embedded:

I have thus far found it quite difficult to find a decent book in the Embedded genre.  I bought Predko's "Programming PICmicro Microcontrollers" which is an okay reference to have around but I didn't find it too useful.  Instead, I found Matrix Multimedia's CDROM tutorials to be the best way to learn.  I learned to program PIC Micros in both Assembly and C with their series of tutorial CDROMs, in addition to the tutorial development board.  It's expensive if you want the whole package (CDROMs and dev board) but it really does show you the ropes and leaves you with a good grounding that can be carried forwards on your own.

Brian

[badSCR]

In school, I had a class for ASM, I passed but I suck at ASM.  Then I tried Basic on my own but nope couldn't get past blinking an led.

Not knowing anything about C programming.  I went and got "Sams Teach Yourself C in 21 days   6th edition"  It is a good book for a beginner, It reads very well.  I was able to do it in just 5 days.  Now, I am ok in C, but need to learn more about Embedded C.

Then I got me a PICkit2 and "Beginners Guide to Embedded C programming Volume 1&2 by Chuck Hellebuyck" which is also a good book for a beginner.  I am struggling with data communications like serial.


"Signal Processing & Linear Systems by Lathi" I see there is Calculus math.
"The Art of Electronics" Looks very good.

[Thermal Runaway]

I was okay at Assembly, and I think it was useful to learn because at the same time it teaches you how Microprocessors actually work.  But that said, I have to say that there is very little application for Assembly programming these days.  Most things can be done just as well in C, and the program is far easier to read, much more portable and definitely easier to maintain.  Assembly is only preferable in a handful of situations.  Some old school programmers will say that Assembly is far better than C because it's faster and more efficient and etc etc, but mostly that's just crap - modern day compilers can generate very efficient code and in practice there is little benefit to writing Assembly, except in some very specific circumstances.  That's my opinion anyway!

With regard to Lathi - yeah there is a lot of complex math in that book.  Unfortunately you can't get away from complex math when it comes to Signals and Systems.  That's why you need the background explanation, which is what Lathi provides and Oppenheim doesn't.

Art of Electronics - classic book, and although outdated most of the information is still very relevant.  This book should be on any self respecting Engineer's / Hobbyist's shelf.  Check Ebay, occasionally you can pick up a cheap second hand copy.

With regard to serial comms - it's not actually that hard.  You can either handle it yourself in software by bit-banging, or you can use the peripherals on your Microcontroller device.  I don't know too much about other manufacturers but a lot of Microchip's devices come equipped with on-chip communications modules.  All you need to do is read how it works in the data sheet, then set up the module accordingly to suit your requirements.  After that you don't really concern yourself with the details of sending and receiving the data - you just use the module and it does the rest.  Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy.

It's just about spending the time and giving it a fair go.  A storage scope is invaluable if you need to test your serial output.

Brian

[badSCR]

We are getting a little off topic; but oh, well.

I have used the on-chip communications modules, works nice sending data from one chip to another chip to light some LEDs, but when the program gets larger the RX starts to mess-up.  I am thinking that it is missing the start bits some how and picking up half way into the data.

I well look into bit-banging. Have heard it before but didn't know what it was.
Once I've got my work-bench back together, well use my storage scope and usb logic analyzer to find out more.
Only just started Embedded C and PIC Micros for about 3 months now.