The Art of Electronics

I am having a conversation over on New Book Teardown #3: Learning The Art of Electronics: A Hands-On Lab Course (2016) | In The Lab and I was asked about the various books that carry the title “art of electronics”, they are:

  • The Art of Electronics by Paul Horowitz and Winfield Hill currently in its 3rd edition. This masterpiece of electronics literature was first published in 1980 and has been the go-to book for anyone interested in learning about electronics ever since. It’s the textbook for many university electronics courses. The 3rd edition of the book was published in 2015.
  • The Art of Electronics: The x-Chapters also written by Paul Horowitz and Winfield Hill is a collection of supplementary material that didn’t make it into the 3rd edition of The Art of Electronics.
  • Learning the Art of Electronics is a companion book that provides a structured introduction to electronics through a collection of 25 lab exercises. It’s the coursework for many university electronics courses. The 1st edition by Thomas C. Hayes and Paul Horowitz was published in 2016. The 2nd edition by Thomas C. Hayes and David Abrams comes out in 2025.

Homework

This is a part of the homework feature of my blog, which is an ongoing conversation with my mate S.F.

Hey mate. Lovely to see you again, as always.

I have a note here about Milo but I’m not sure why.

There is a rumor that the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is about cocaine addiction, particularly that the Seven Dwarfs represent the various stages. But Snopes says this theory is bunk.

Two authors Strunk & White wrote a book called The Elements of Style which is a style guide for formal grammar used in American English writing. Famously they said “let every word tell”.

The phone you gave me I named ‘skadi’ after the Norse goddess Skaði.

According to John Cleese in his hilarious letter Something of a Retraction: Cleese letter to the U.S., French fries aren’t French, they’re Belgian.

I heard a rumour that DeepSeek says there are three r’s in “strawberry” but I can’t find a corroborating source.

Penny Arcade is great. I mentioned this one: Dirty One.

In Laws and Sausages the structure of the United States of America is explained in a comic format.

In Death of a Salesman there is a famous quote “A salesman is got to dream. It comes with the territory.”

Tribal not racist.

I think all you need for subjective experience is one or more sensors. Both consciousness and self-awareness are different to that. Although they probably do entail subjective experience too.

I should have a promotions policy on my website. Thanks for the suggestion. I will look into this.

There is a famous RFC: Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels. This, for instance, defines what the word “should” should mean.

The seven check marks are elements of white privilege, given as:

  1. male
  2. white
  3. heterosexual
  4. at least one highly educated or wealthy parent
  5. at least one parent born in the Netherlands
  6. a VWO diploma (preparatory scientific education)
  7. and a diploma from the University

In Outliers the author Malcolm Gladwell comes to the conclusion that success is mostly luck. In the same book Gladwell says that to attain mastery the a subject needs to be actively studied for 10,000 hours.

In Magic Words and How to Use Them the author explains how you can use uncompromising positivity to craft the life you want. Seemed to work for me, if you’re positive about people they seem to magically be positive back.

The Old New Thing is a blog from Raymond Chen, a long time programmer from Microsoft who had a lot to do with Windows.

I mentioned that Alan Kay worked for both Atari and Apple.

The famous quote “Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes hurtling down the highway.” is from Andrew S. Tanenbaum.

Asleep From Day by The Chemical Brothers.

Why You Will Marry the Wrong Person from Alain de Botton.

Before you speak let your words pass through three gates:

  1. is it true?
  2. is it necessary?
  3. is it kind?

Analog Meters for Learning the Art of Electronics

I was flipping through my copy of Learning the Art of Electronics: A Hands-On Lab Course (I have the first edition, this second edition comes out in Australia on 3 April 2025, I have a copy on pre-order, I think it’s already available in the USA) and I noticed that some analog meters are used in the first lab course.

So in preparation for doing that I purchased some analog meters, being these:

I am planning to start working through these projects on my YouTube channel @InTheLabWithJayJay at a rate of one project every 28 days starting April 1st. April 1st, being April Fools’ Day, is of course the traditional date for launching IT projects and it is also the one year anniversary of my video (which happens to be my most popular YouTube video by a large margin): New Book Teardown #3: Learning The Art of Electronics: A Hands-On Lab Course (2016) | In The Lab.

Mail Call #25: Gorilla Glue, COM Books, Lens Care, Vacuum Filter, Thread Repair, and More!

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In this video we look at what has arrived recently from Amazon, eBay, and AliExpress:

Here is some extra info:

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Following is a product I use picked at random from my collection which may appear in my videos. Clicking through on this to find and click on the green affiliate links before purchasing from eBay or AliExpress is a great way to support the channel at no cost to you. Thanks!

3ELIGHTING 14″-27″ With 2 Arms VESA Wall MountThis is an image of the product.

Let’s go shopping!

Mail Call #22: Glasses Care, Acrylic Pen Holder, Components, Tools and More! | In The Lab

This post is part of my video blog and you can find more information about this video over here.

You can support this channel on Patreon: patreon.com/JohnElliotV

In this video we take a look at what’s arrived from AliExpress and Amazon:

Thanks very much for watching! And please remember to hit like and subscribe! :)


Following is a product I use picked at random from my collection which may appear in my videos. Clicking through on this to find and click on the green affiliate links before purchasing from eBay or AliExpress is a great way to support the channel at no cost to you. Thanks!

Yum Cha Magnetic Claw Pickup ToolThis is an image of the product.notes

Let’s go shopping!

Mail Call #20: GreatFET One, Cynthion, Mesh Holder, USB Cable, Calculus, KVM and More! | In The Lab

This post is part of my video blog and you can find more information about this video over here.

You can support this channel on Patreon: patreon.com/JohnElliotV

In this video we take a look at what has arrived in the mail from AliExpress, eBay, and Amazon.

See here for more info about the Great Scott Gadgets:

In this video I mention my mate @learningasahobby790 who makes interesting videos about mathematics and philosophy, check him out.

Thanks very much for watching! And please remember to hit like and subscribe! :)


Following is a product I use picked at random from my collection which may appear in my videos. Clicking through on this to find and click on the green affiliate links before purchasing from eBay or AliExpress is a great way to support the channel at no cost to you. Thanks!

Yum Cha 11 in 1 USB-C Hub USB HubThis is an image of the product.

Let’s go shopping!

Learning the Art of Electronics: A Hands-On Lab Course 2ed

I have been sad for some time that Learning the Art of Electronics: A Hands-On Lab Course is out of print. Little did I know, they have been working on a second edition! The revised edition is due out in March 2025. Excellent news! I don’t usually pre-order books, but I will pre-order my copy of Learning the Art of Electronics: A Hands-On Lab Course 2ed. There’s more info on the book’s website: learningtheartofelectronics.com.

Debugging

I’ve been reading Debugging: The 9 Indispensable Rules for Finding Even the Most Elusive Software and Hardware Problems. My mate @indigo suggested I read David A. Wheeler’s summary of it over here: David A. Wheeler’s Review of Debugging by David J. Agans. I know David A. Wheeler from his work on sloccount.

New Book Teardown #6: God Created the Integers (2005) | Learning Electronics In The Lab With Jay Jay

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In this video I take a look at God Created the Integers edited by Stephen Hawking and published in 2005.

Hawking’s other book which I mention in this video is On The Shoulders Of Giants.

I am sorry that my pronunciation of European names is kind of terrible. While working through the book I made some notes on my wiki about pronouncing various names: God Created the Integers.

At 12 hours (the YouTube maximum video length) this is my longest video so far! If you do watch the whole thing through to the end, you are my type of person, so please do let me know! :)

Thanks very much for watching! And please remember to hit like and subscribe! :)


Following is a product I use picked at random from my collection which may appear in my videos. Clicking through on this to find and click on the green affiliate links before purchasing from eBay or AliExpress is a great way to support the channel at no cost to you. Thanks!

Yum Cha 16MP USB CameraThis is an image of the product.

Let’s go shopping!

Mail Call #16: METCAL PS-900; Peak Atlas DCA75 Pro, LCR45, ESR70; ESP32; Pi Zero, Pico; and More!

This post is part of my video blog and you can find more information about this video over here.

You can support this channel on Patreon: patreon.com/JohnElliotV

In this video I receive the following equipment in the mail:

As I mentioned the open-source architecture books are available free online: The Architecture of Open Source Applications.

Thanks very much for watching! And please remember to hit like and subscribe! :)


Following is a product I use picked at random from my collection which may appear in my videos. Clicking through on this to find and click on the green affiliate links before purchasing from eBay or AliExpress is a great way to support the channel at no cost to you. Thanks!

Aussishop CalipersThis is an image of the product.notes

Let’s go shopping!