D
Dan Charette
Guest
Hey Everyone!
I thought I'd post a quick little dity regarding the importance of
digging deep into websites and data sheet searching. Also, a plea to
anyone thinking of tossing an older looking, tattered paged hard
printed copy of a manufacturer's data book.
I just spent about four hours on Analog Devices website. It all
started from trying to track down an application note I had read
roughly 10 years ago. I knew the note existed, and so I started
looking and poking around. Before I new it, I was deep into the rusty
inards of a long forgotten, cobweb laden tunnel of some very useful
analog stuff. The floors were damp and musty, the air stale and
undisturbed for many years it seemed. I proceeded on and discovered
some nuggets of glittering gold there hidden beneath the muck. As the
years go by and I'm sure everyone can attest to this, databooks and
application notes end up on endangered species lists and eventually
are burned or incinerated as per Bradbury's tale. It seems that much
of the really good recipes for great analog circuit design don't ever
seem to get scanned into PDF files. Instead, they're thrown out by
new green engineers just graduating their respective college programs
and moving into the offices once held by legends who have since
retired from the electronic art community. And so, I plead with
everyone out there, keep those data books and cherish them. When you
do tutor new prospects coming fresh out of school, teach them the
importance of these classic pieces of literature that we all have
grown to cherish and rely on. And for all that is holy in the design
world, don't throw these things out! Post them on Ebay or give them
to the local university lab or something if you really are looking to
spring clean up your lab. I fear that if we don't leave some of this
valuable material behind, many of the future designers will be using
computer program circuit design 'wizards' to design their filters and
amplifiers and won't have a clue as to how to really use that muscle
sitting atop their shoulders. Manual schematic drawing will become
some kind of ancient hieroglyph that will end up on a look alike
Rosetta stone with lyrics from a Nirvana song in Japanese and a recipe
for spicy style borscht in a chicken scratch sketch made by a Cajun
swamp doctor.
By the way... AD's website is packed with really great info all over
the place if you are willing to dig. I'm talking digging way beyond
just links on the main page and links within the search results
windows. Links on old published datasheets are sometimes still
active, but there aren't links that show up through their search
engines. One could almost get a college level engineering degree just
by ingesting the information there. Linear Tech's site is packed as
well not to mention National's, Maxim's, and TI's too.
Preserve the knowledge folks! It's such a vital fingerprint that we
as designer's have.
Dan Charette {dan_at_thesonicfrogFUZZ-dot-com}
Remove the "FUZZ" and replace the underscores and
such from my e-mail address to contact me.
"I may not always be right, but I'm never wrong."
I thought I'd post a quick little dity regarding the importance of
digging deep into websites and data sheet searching. Also, a plea to
anyone thinking of tossing an older looking, tattered paged hard
printed copy of a manufacturer's data book.
I just spent about four hours on Analog Devices website. It all
started from trying to track down an application note I had read
roughly 10 years ago. I knew the note existed, and so I started
looking and poking around. Before I new it, I was deep into the rusty
inards of a long forgotten, cobweb laden tunnel of some very useful
analog stuff. The floors were damp and musty, the air stale and
undisturbed for many years it seemed. I proceeded on and discovered
some nuggets of glittering gold there hidden beneath the muck. As the
years go by and I'm sure everyone can attest to this, databooks and
application notes end up on endangered species lists and eventually
are burned or incinerated as per Bradbury's tale. It seems that much
of the really good recipes for great analog circuit design don't ever
seem to get scanned into PDF files. Instead, they're thrown out by
new green engineers just graduating their respective college programs
and moving into the offices once held by legends who have since
retired from the electronic art community. And so, I plead with
everyone out there, keep those data books and cherish them. When you
do tutor new prospects coming fresh out of school, teach them the
importance of these classic pieces of literature that we all have
grown to cherish and rely on. And for all that is holy in the design
world, don't throw these things out! Post them on Ebay or give them
to the local university lab or something if you really are looking to
spring clean up your lab. I fear that if we don't leave some of this
valuable material behind, many of the future designers will be using
computer program circuit design 'wizards' to design their filters and
amplifiers and won't have a clue as to how to really use that muscle
sitting atop their shoulders. Manual schematic drawing will become
some kind of ancient hieroglyph that will end up on a look alike
Rosetta stone with lyrics from a Nirvana song in Japanese and a recipe
for spicy style borscht in a chicken scratch sketch made by a Cajun
swamp doctor.
By the way... AD's website is packed with really great info all over
the place if you are willing to dig. I'm talking digging way beyond
just links on the main page and links within the search results
windows. Links on old published datasheets are sometimes still
active, but there aren't links that show up through their search
engines. One could almost get a college level engineering degree just
by ingesting the information there. Linear Tech's site is packed as
well not to mention National's, Maxim's, and TI's too.
Preserve the knowledge folks! It's such a vital fingerprint that we
as designer's have.
Dan Charette {dan_at_thesonicfrogFUZZ-dot-com}
Remove the "FUZZ" and replace the underscores and
such from my e-mail address to contact me.
"I may not always be right, but I'm never wrong."