16
votes
Request: resources for learning digital electronics
This college term I was signed up to a class on Digital Electronics, and it kicked my butt on the very first week because the learning materials were extremely obtuse; I actually dropped the course because I could not see myself being able to keep up no matter what I did, especially because my university does not allow late work. I'm going to have to go back to it next term in order to get my degree, so I'm looking for any learning resources anyone can recommend me to give me a head start.
Just to be clear, I'm primarily looking for good resources that covers basics like boolean algebra (which I already understand but am terrible at) and logic gates. I know we'll be using VHDL later, so those will also be appreciated.
Electronics nerd here. 'Electronics' is / can be... a collection of a ton of different sub-specialties. It sounds like the class you're describing is looking at operational theory of IC design/function, but that could only be part of it, or I could be misinterpreting.
Does the class have a written synopsis / statement of intended course coverage / some description of what that specific class intends to educate the student on? That information will be IMMENSELY helpful for pointing you at resources that will be of use to you.
It does, actually, but I think it's fairly vague. https://www.uopeople.edu/programs/course/digital-electronics-and-computer-architecture/
My gut reaction, as someone currently enrolled in a 16 week Digital Applications class, is that that is a wildly ambitious course to have no prerequisites and to try to cover everything from boolean algebra to CPU design and assembler in only 9 weeks.
I don't have a lot of material to offer, though as ackables suggests, nand2tetris is a great project to work through.
One resource that has helped me in the early stages is https://www.boolean-algebra.com/. It'll help show how to work with boolean algebra, and can also build k-maps and circuit diagrams.
Yeah, and this is an online-only class with very little external support.
To be fair, while it doesn’t have any prerequisites, classes do have a certain order they need to be taken in. Boolean algebra was brushed upon in another class but I was pretty terrible at it and my understanding is that it’s going to be pretty crucial for this class.
I actually messaged the professor because I was wildly stressed about this and while he answered my questions and was incredibly understanding he also didn’t give me any additional resources and said that it was meant to be challenging.
This does not seem like a confidence-inspiring combination. There's 'challenging' and then there's something that smells halfway like a scam money-farm that doesn't have education as the highest priority.
EDIT: just noticed the name of the institution and did some reading on the mission statement and costs. I think this is more a symptom of educators working on, basically, a shoestring budget with very little institutional support. There ABSOLUTELY SHOULD BE prerequisites for this if I am AT ALL understanding the scope and depth of what they are trying to cram into 9 weeks.
Maybe this is something a high-performer could do in the time period, if you have no other coursework and no job - literally all your time 12+ hours a day is spent on adjacent study for all the topics brought up in each class.
It might be one of those all too common cases, where the department hired someone absolutely brilliant, who, in their youth and spare time, could absolutely learn all this in one semester themselves. And then they wildly, wildly overestimate the limits of us mere mortals.
Our class had a prof like this for networking communications. The entire class went to speak with the admins after the first week, and we talked, and the poor chap looked bewildered and upset :( he really was trying his best and thought it was doable, and didn't want us coming away from the class with any less.... Anyways the expectations were scaled back crazily, he ended up being a fantastic instructor because the scope was now doable and he could go into more depth while our eyes glazed. By the time our brains caught up with the surface level question he was ready to re-emerge from the depths, and we moved to the next surface level topic. We felt like our heads we're going to explode but everyone passed.
Meanwhile my partner has had several classes like this where everyone got 30-ish % and down, and lost weight/hair, before the degree to was over.
Ok. I had not considered this possibility, and it does fit quite neatly as a possible explanation. Good call, you're right, this could indeed be what's going on.
If you are looking for Boolean logic and VHDL, check out nand2tetris. It’s a website with accompanying book($40) that starts at gate logic and works up to building a Tetris game on a simulated computer you designed.
It doesn’t use VHDL, but a simplified VHDL-like language for designing the computer. It might not be exactly what the class you need to take covers, but hopefully it would provide you enough experience to be able to keep up with the class next time you take it.
Oh, I was actually told that we had to use the nand2tetris software in that class. I was under the impression that it was using VHDL because of some of the documentation I very briefly skimmed through. This might be where I should start, though!
I second this suggestion. I got a better understanding of binary algebra, logic gates, and computer architecture from working through nand2tetris. It was also the first thing that was able to connect the dots for me between the hardware and software. I was 10 years past my degree at the time.
I went through it as part of a tech book club and I really recommend doing it as a group if that's possible. Where one person struggles, another will understand and be able to explain in English. The act of explaining helps to cement understanding. It's also really easy to get distracted and stop, accountability helps a lot.