Why is electronics so complicated?

As you point out, the difficulty is finding out what's wrong, or in fact that

Like "get me a beer"?

Especially if you intend one that continually develops into an increasingly profound friendship and still lasts long term. My marriage is now at 33 years and I've worked out of the home for almost all of that (that means 24/7 time together) and she is my very best friend. Complex doesn't get the half of it, though.

Works for some, I suppose. Met a few where just some such mystical force appeared to be in play. ;)

...

Of course, your point is different. I'm just playing with your thoughts, is all.

Jon

You recommend this over the operational model of getting a new wife every, say, 3 years -- you could have been on #11 by now?

:-)

Just kidding... congratulations on your marriage!

Naaaah! We're coming up on our 51st Anniversary... not quite sure how we got here... the time just zoomed by... 4 children... 8 grandchildren... we could easily see great grandchildren soon :-) ...Jim Thompson

On a sunny day (Wed, 29 Dec 2010 11:27:16 -0600) it happened " snipped-for-privacy@att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz" wrote in :

It is next to 'A', 'B', and spelled 'C'.

Hope this helps :-)

I'm just pointing out that we're spending way too much electronic ink on a proposal that in a sane society would be met with howls of derisive laughter, ideally leading the proposer to re-examine his position and become wiser for another day.

There are lots of folks who can cope with the complexity of electronics and software fine, or at least well enough to make a living and produce useful stuff. Dumbing everything down Soviet-style is not a sensible proposal, especially not after 70+ years of very painful experimental evidence from Russia.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

Big customer requests a change; small customers enjoy the result.

Software could take great deal of effort to develop, but software isn't complex. Common mistake is mixing the "difficulty" and the "complexity".

Surprisingly small number of people understand the difference between the realization of a known concept and the development of the conceptually new thing.

Vladimir Vassilevsky DSP and Mixed Signal Design Consultant

Maxim does that. I read an interview with the CEO, and he bragged about it. We don't use Maxim unless absolutely necessary, maybe three parts out of 5000 in stock.

We use singles and duals. Quads are a mixed bag, fewer packages but worse placement/routing. For fast stuff, singles are best.

John

sed

rt

To claim that for years up until that time new cars were available but no spares only shows that the dumbness lies not with the central planners this time, but with those that believe such stories.

NT

Complicated? I hadn't noticed.

John

This, from an alley cat?

"Software" is a very broad term, and can range from simple designs that run a room thermostat, to exceptionally complex designs, such as a enterprise class database that a company like Wal-Mart would find acceptable to use.

Hehe. I'm very lucky the way things are! She is my first and only, too.

Thanks. But while we've been through everything that might break up people (and far more, since we have two disabled children, one profoundly autistic and experiencing grand mal seizures that have broken her arms, smashed out her teeth, given her 3rd degree burns over largish areas of sensitive skin, and threatens to kill her every single waking day), we have found our way and become far stronger and more profound friends for all that we've been through with each other, too.

Those experiences have shaped us and there is no way anyone else could ever come anywhere close to having and knowing what we know without having to say so much as a single word about it, now. We can just look for a second a each other and communicate so much. Our focus is no longer on what is between us, but on what is outside of us -- larger goals beyond our family and towards helping others.

There is nothing anyone else could ever hope to offer that would cause me to spend a single second considering losing all that -- except perhaps some permanent security and love for my daughter after we die, I suppose. (No contract, no trust fund amount, can force love and good relationship.) On that odd score, both my wife and I would simply look at each other with eyes that say, "yes, go for it you idiot." But we wouldn't lose what we've gained over the years, either.

It's a powerful feeling to have been through so much and to have survived everything others go through and far more and still remain standing and all the stronger for the challenges experienced. It does give truth to that saw, "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

Jon

The difference is only in the amount of dumb legwork.

VLV

Same here, but for more than one reason. I'll go *way* out of my way to design out a Maxim part.

I only use quads in very cost sensitive applications (if I can save enough money we do the project, otherwise...) or where space is at an absolute premium (trying to squeeze one more circuit under an existing shield). We don't have any "fast stuff". I don't even think we have any single opamps (comparators, sure) in our parts control system.

You don't understand governments very well. The US didn't buy a spares package for the F-16, to keep it's apparent costs down. Whenever they need spares they're purchased in onesies, sometimes requiring re-tooling.

Everyone knows your illiterate. You don't have to broadcast the fact.

OK, it's not a bug (i.e., a design error) per se, but unless the data sheet rather prominently calls out the "unexpected" behavior, I also wouldn't call it a very robust design. I.e., if you had a piece of software that computed the difference between two numbers, even if the instructions for the software told you that the mean of those numbers couldn't be more than a certain value, few users would think it reasonable if the software actually flipped the sign of the result on them just because they went from asking for 10-5 to 100-95, you know? (This is what some op-amps do -- the common-mode voltage higher than the data sheet's allowed spec and they hit the opposite rail...)

(I would accept that if your common mode voltage on an op-amp exceeds the power supply rails themselves, one can't reasonably expect any particular output behavior -- the part might as well burst into flames :-) -- unless the data sheet explicitly claims otherwise.)

I once worked with a consultant (he did database programming) who charged something like half his regular rate for fixing bugs -- I thought that was at least a nice nod towards wanting to actively encourage himself not to introduce bugs in the first place.

---Joel