Modern Electronics (was Re: List charter mods & headcount... ;

From: Tony Duell <ard_at_p850ug1.demon.co.uk>
Date: Wed Jun 23 16:51:07 2004

> > I don't like to test memory.
> > My tests are all open book - they don't need to write anything on their
> > shirtsleeves.
> > open notes - they don't need to write anything in the margins of the
> > book.
>
> Couldn't agree more. In "real life" you normally have access to

I'll go along with this too.

> wrong :-) Any engineer who sat down to do this on my Alpha box
> without referring to the manual would more than likely be shown the
> door - this isn't

Any designer or programmer who works without the appriate manuals or
databooks is going to get things wrong, and I wouldn't trust an engineer
who _didn't_ have said books open alongside him. Certainly when I'm
programming I have K&R (or similar) to hand, when I'm doing electronic
design I have the appopriate data books no the bench.

Of course there are things you remember -- the pinout of the 74x00,
74x74, etc is burned into my brain. Not because I sat down and learnt
said pinouts, but because I've used those chips so often that I remember
them, But I couldn't give you the pinout of some of the more obscure TTL
chips, or of most microprocessors, or... I look those up. I don't think
this makes me any less of a designer either.

-tony
Received on Wed Jun 23 2004 - 16:51:07 BST