Textbook recommendation

PS)

I've enjoyed surfing through Phil Hobbs' "Building Electro-Optical Systems: Making It All Work." It's ecumenical in scope, to the extent that I think the title was a mistake on his part (or his publisher's). Easily half of the book discusses topics of interest in general system design rather than anything specific to EO systems. Those who have been waiting for the upcoming AoE 3rd edition are likely to enjoy and benefit from Phil's book in the meantime.

Another book that is somewhat mistitled is Henry Ott's newest edition of "Electromagnetic Compatibility Engineering." Anyone building an electronic device with two or more components could probably benefit from this one.

The current edition of "Building Scientific Apparatus" is a fun read, too.

-- john

You can't quantify the tradeoffs between features, engineering cost, production cost, reliability, time-to-market, liabilities, glamour, and other stuff. Some products aren't even intended to make a profit, but to show capability or create buzz, like a concept car or something, or something to learn from whether it's a good product on its own.

That's why design is fun, an art, and not just an exercize in numerical optimization.

You don't know the difference between fantasy & optimal.

with

The specification can absolutely define the widget to be designed. Sorta turning the art of electronics into the science of electronics.

Sometimes it is just turning the crank. It might not be any fun (I tend to agree) but it does create successful products. In fact, that's why software is so miserable; all art, no science.

Complete nonsense. Power/energy may be of no interest whatsoever.

You might want to check in the mirror to see who is spouting nonsense. If you think in the 21st Century, nobody cares about power, you will be left far far far behind.

Oh, have you ever heard of a company called Arm? Intel has.

What an interesting thought. I must try to put something together in my field (I may get an honorary degree in psych :-)

Optimal should include the development cost, which should include the time taken to do the optimization :)

This is something I am forever getting wrong myself - I can spend far too long "optimizing" - fiddling - with the design, at all stages.

I just looked it up but all I can find is reading material (a couple of hundred pages) put together by several teachers and published by the school. The topics covered are like establishing requirements, adhering to regulations, thermal behaviour, interfacing logic, impedance matching, PCB layout, power distribution, logic switching time, etc, etc.

So, ARM makes processors that consume no power? Go back to whatever school gave you a degree and demand your money back, if tehir trailer hasn't already been hauled to another scam site.

I tend to "play" with my projects, changing a resistor here, running a simulation there, pushing traces around until they look nice. After a few days to weeks of doing that, I find my changes slow down, even the useless cosmetic things. That's when I decide I've hit a local maxima and order a prototype. Then I do the same thing in real life, which if the simulation wasn't lying to me, needs few changes if any.

Tim

Sometimes, getting the client to define the problem precisely can be the hardest part of the project.

The energy used to heat the interior of my car is of no interest at all. Now, tuck your ignorant lefty tail between your legs and run away yelping like the little ankle biter you are.

Strawman noted. It is the lefty's best argument. Well, the non sequitur is pretty high up on the list, too.

Oh, don't let the client define the problem! They usually don't understand it.

It could matter for an electic/ hybrid car. (In Buffalo, in winter.)

George H.

Now, tuck your ignorant lefty tail between your legs and run

book.

Actually you're wrong about that. There is a 1500-page tome written by a ve teran of the industry with a few hundred mass produced products manufacture d by the top corporations in the business in his resume that purports to co ver every single aspect of real world product development in excruciating d etail. I hesitate to link to it because it lists for nearly $1000, a Kluwer product.

book.

veteran of the industry with a few hundred mass produced products manufactured by the top corporations in the business in his resume that purports to cover every single aspect of real world product development in excruciating detail. I hesitate to link to it because it lists for nearly $1000, a Kluwer product.

You may as well write a book about playing tennis, and expect people to read it and then go win matches.

And a third: Publication Date: January 26, 2012 | ISBN-10: 0080971385 | ISBN-13: