Useful books about electronics and telecommunications

[Blackburn]

Hello

I'm a computer science student. I've been programming for 3 years so far, especially in Java, and C++. However, my knowledge is limited when it comes to electronics and telecommunications. I think, the knowledge about analog, digital electronics and digital communication will help me to be a better programmer, especially when I'll have to develop applications for mobile OS e.g iOS or Android. Besides, I'll also know how digital components work, what happens inside of a RAM,CPU etc.

Therefore I'm looking for useful books about these things.

So far I've found the following book:
The Art of Electronics, by Paul Horowitz

This books seems to be popular, though, it's a little bit old. Would you recommend that book?

Do you know any books about digital communication (GSM, decoders,encoders etc.) signal processing, antennas?

 

[goldsmith]

Hello Dear Blackburn
Try these books :
Micro electronics by professor adel sedra . micro electronics by professor jacob millamn . integrated electronics by professor millman and professor halkias .
solidstate radio engineering by herbert L cross .
Secrets of RF circuit design by joseph j carr .
RF circuit design by chris bowick
Telecommunications, George Kennedy
Good luck
Goldsmith

 

[Chipmunk]

Many EEs and physicists love The Art of Electronics. But the parts about digital electronics of this 1989 book are outdated. The parts about analog electronics are still very good, but some people who are new to analog electronics find the explanations a bit too fast and difficult.

Here is a selection of some free resources and some books on analog electronics:
Recommendations for Practical Analog Electronics Books

For digital signal processing a very easy introduction is:
The Scientist and Engineer's Guide to Digital Signal Processing
(As a computer science student you might be disgusted by the fact that the examples are in BASIC, but as the author explains, they are not meant to be copied, but to illustrate the concepts as simply as possible)

 

[christifa]

Grob: Basic Electronics (Electronics Books Series) The new edition of Grob: Basic Electronics has been completely revised with a new look and new information to keep students at the forefront of basic electronics education. It includes new problems and questions at the end of each chapter, sidebar features throughout the text, and a critical thinking component. The new full-color design makes it easy for students to read circuit diagrams and other important visuals. HyperGraphics, an interactive multimedia program designed to correlate with Glencoe electronics texts, is available for Grob: Basic Electronics

 

[iVenky]

Yes. Art of Electronics is a nice book. Some other basic electronics books are "Circuit Analysis" by William Hayt and then "Microelectronic Circuits" by Adel Sedra. I am really happy to see a software student willing to learn Electronics.

Regards,
iVenky

 

[Blackburn]

Thanks for help. Nowadays, most of the software developers focus on high-level languages forgetting computers and other devices are based on electronics .
I guess, it's still great to know what really happens inside of a memory and CPU. I think, this knowledge will help me to develop a better and more efficient code. Besides, I've found electronics and digital communication really interesting. I'd like to learn how to build digital circuits, antennas and then use them to transmit data .

 

[goldsmith]

It is not for digital communications , but i think can help you : computer architect , by morris mano.
Good luck
Goldsmith

 

[Blackburn]

Thanks. Actually any kind of a book connected with electronics, IT and digital communications will be useful for me. I'll take a look at all the books that you've suggested and choose the best ones .

 

[goldsmith]

By the way morris mano , had write many books about digital . probably can help you

 

[necati]

Electrical Engineering. Free e-books download.

 

[pointyhat]

I don't know why people complain about The Art Of Electronics. Yes it's relatively old but it covers everything adequately. Not that much has changed from a theory point of view and it still covers tangible things and not virtualized components such as FPGAs and DSPs.

I will say that the student guide that accompanies TAOE is actually better than the main book though. If you want something step by step with a learning path included it's about the best book out there. It will walk you through analogue electronics via basic logic to building a 68008 based lab computer and writing software to run on it. It's about practical usage of electronics rather than a pile of theory. You will learn more from this without being put off and burned out by spending the first 200 pages doing thevenin equivalents or karnaugh maps etc.

Please note that you will learn precisely sod all if you start with a Microcontroller. You need to build something from scratch at least once to truly understand it all and to build a good mental model. If you don't do this, you won't get the bedrock abstraction.

If you are interested in signal processing, the following is a pretty good book from experience: The Scientist and Engineer's Guide to Digital Signal Processing

The ARRL handbook will serve as a good reference as well with respect to communications: https://www.amazon.co.uk/ARRL-Handbook-Radio-Communications-2012/dp/087259677X/

I'd avoid GSM books - they are terribly out of date usually.

I've done the opposite to you - I spent a number of years doing EE and have moved into software now.

 

[Chipmunk]

I don't know why people complain about The Art Of Electronics. Yes it's relatively old but it covers everything adequately. Not that much has changed from a theory point of view and it still covers tangible things and not virtualized components such as FPGAs and DSPs.

I will say that the student guide that accompanies TAOE is actually better than the main book though. If you want something step by step with a learning path included it's about the best book out there. It will walk you through analogue electronics via basic logic to building a 68008 based lab computer and writing software to run on it. It's about practical usage of electronics rather than a pile of theory. You will learn more from this without being put off and burned out by spending the first 200 pages doing thevenin equivalents or karnaugh maps etc.

...

I think it's not so much people complaining about The Art of Electronics, it's more that they are eagerly waiting for the 3rd edition. The 68008 you mentioned is a good example (it is also covered in detail in the AoE book, not only in the student guide): It once was a fine microprocessor but is obsolete now. It would be much more useful for the reader to build a system with a microcontroller that is popular and easily available.
I agree with you about the practical usage, at least for the analog part. On the other hand, it has a relatively steep learning curve. Textbooks like Sedra / Smith take the reader by the hand, they are full with excercises with solutions etc, not so AoE. If someone is really determined to learn analog electronics I'd say go and buy The Art of Electronics, if at first you don't understand some parts then ask other people until you get it and finally you will really know how to design analog circuits. But Blackburn said that analog electronics is one thing among several others that he wants to learn, so maybe he should look for a book that is easier for the beginner.

 

[pointyhat]

I'm eagerly awaiting the 3rd edition as well ;-)

Just out of interest, what architecture would you propose as a suitable alternative to the 68008? I'm not sure a Microcontroller would or should cut it as it doesn't show you how it works and cannot be programmed standalone i.e. without a computer. Also a lot of the peripherals are integrated now. A lot of the book's content would be lost if they picked a Microcontroller in favour of a how to read a selection chart chapter.

(they should include info on USB/SPI/I2C etc as well though I will say).

Ironically I have wondered for years about the 68008 decision as it went out of production in '96 yet the Z80 in the "prior to 68k edition" is still being produced in huge numbers.

 

[paulrusu]

If you want to get practical and actually be able to repair something you will need recent information.
Theory books are good but they are just the beginning.
In the second phase I recommend reading about concrete technology like in this book about repairing all the popular LCD TV models.
There is a lot of detail regarding the various technologies encountered in practice wich is not and cannot be covered in a book.
Hope this helps.

 

[Chipmunk]

I'm eagerly awaiting the 3rd edition as well ;-)

Just out of interest, what architecture would you propose as a suitable alternative to the 68008? I'm not sure a Microcontroller would or should cut it as it doesn't show you how it works and cannot be programmed standalone i.e. without a computer. Also a lot of the peripherals are integrated now. A lot of the book's content would be lost if they picked a Microcontroller in favour of a how to read a selection chart chapter.

...

I'm pretty clueless about modern microcontrollers or processors. Once I knew how to write some short assembler programs for the 6510 in my C64 and later for the 68000 in my Atari ST (that's why I thought that the 68008 was a nice choice) and then some other processors while studying, but that was a long time ago. I just thought about using a microcontroller because there seem to be so many easy microcontroller projects out there. But after reading your post - you are probably right that some important content of the book would be lost.

 

[SughiRam P.]

Electronic Devices and Circuit Theory by Robert Boylestad and Louis Nashelsky (Excellent book....)
Digital Electronics and Computer Architecture by Morris Mano...

It will help u...

 

[Chipmunk]

A book that will give you a good overview of many different topics in electronics is "Circuit Design: Know it All".