Electronics Books

Well, I can't accuse this book of not covering enough information about DAIKATANA. This book tells you just about everything you need to know about DAIKATANA. In fact, I liked this book much more than the game itself!

A in depth walk-through, a peek into the dev of Daikatana and much more. All by the renowned level designer of the same game Stevie Case.She gives you all the ins and outs of great looking game. Makes the wait for this all the more painful.

I've played plenty of other games and read their strategy guides. For computers, at least, strategy guides are usually limited to black and white textbooks with hand-drawn game maps.

But not Prima's Official Daikatana Strategy Guide. This is a beautiful, full-color, slick-paged gem packed with more information and extras than you would will get from any other strat guide. You can only compare this book with a strat guide for a console game such as Metal Gear Solid or Final Fantasy VIII.

There are over a thousand screenshots for the walkthroughs, excellent top-down 3D game maps, designer tips on each episode and level, multiplayer tips and strategic info, instructions on how to use the Daikatana map editor, a centerfold poster of Stevie Case, the author, and a Daikatana Comic Book by Top Cow Productions in the back. This is one heavy strat guide -- get it now! :)

This is a very good book! It delves into the details right from the start. I recommend this book to anyone in the data communications field. It can be a bit dry and complex, but the material is complete and after two or so perusals is easy to understand. This book was used in my graduate course for data communications. Excellent book!

Excellent book. I have read first edition (1992) and now it is one of my best reference at the university where I teach.

I am going to buy this last edition to keep updated.

I have been using Fred Halsall's book in my computer engineering degree and it has been very useful. This is a dense, fat book that will provide lots of information. It covers the basics, from the essential theory about digital transmission, protocol basics and implementation methods, legacy and wireless LANs, HS LANs, transparent and source routing bridges, packet switching and frame relay networks/protocols, internetworking architectures, protocols and routing algorithms, multiservice broadband networks, TCP/IP and OSI application protocols, data encryption and network security, network management structures like SNMP and CMIP and other stuff. I can complain about some of the excessive use of acronyms that leave some areas of the book much harder to read. I'm talking about hundreds of acronyms here.

Also, Fred's writing is sometimes a bit too dry, sometimes forgetting to give the reader a general idea about the subject, instead of just jumping into all the details. This is something that is better done in other books, especially Andrew Tanenbaum's "Computer Networks". Tanenbaum also shares his sense of humour, which, in a dense volume about telecommunications, ends up refreshing the user. Also, Tanenbaum's dares to share his opinion sometimes, something Halsall seldom does, giving us only the facts and nothing more. But if it's the facts you want, he's good at it.

I found most of the book clear; the section about Huffman data compression for instance, was excellent. I remember having some trouble with the Viterbi EC algorithm, which isn't very well explained. The book also lacks information about some more modern technologies like GSM.

In general, this is a very competent title, and a great resource to the student or the computer professional. Be sure to check Andrew S. Tanenbaum's "Computer Networks", since you might prefer it to this title, or, the perfect choice, get both. (I have them both and some subjects are a lot better in one book, and others are a lot better in the other title).

I found this book to be very thorough and useful for ADC and DAC. I was able to use it as a reference to learn and later explain the details of different types of ADC/DAC systems. I'd recommend having this on your shelf. It's a pretty quick and detailed reference and I think it's the best money I've spent in the last 5 or so reference books I bought.

I bought this book after the High Speed Analog seminar given by Analog Devices. Several chapters show modern types of data converters, interfacing to the analog signal sources and to the digital circuitry. It is a must for engineers who want not only to use the data conversion products but also understand what is going on there. I would highly recommend this book also to teachers dealing with this subject as an excellent source of information on state of art data converters presently available on the market.
Daniel Valuch, RF engineer, CERN, Geneva, Switzerland.

At last! A modern book on data conversion worthy to succeed our 1986 landmark Analog-Digital Conversion Handbook (3rd edition). The Data Conversion Handbook is based on the book, Analog-Digital Conversion, a comprehensive set of notes for a recent Analog Devices seminar series on data converters.

In a digital world, A/D and D/A conversion is essential to translate between analog real-world physical variables and the abstract 1s and 0s of digital processing. The book's nine chapter titles offer a hint of its breadth, as well as its orientation to practical designing with and use of converters: Data-converter history; Fundamentals of sampled-data systems; Data-converter architectures; Data-converter process technology; Testing data converters; Interfacing to data converters; Data-converter support circuits; Data-converter applications; and Hardware design techniques.

The first chapter, data-converter history, starts with the early 18th-century background in hydraulic water-metering systems in the Ottoman empire, then-when electricity came into use-from the 19th century telegraph era through the 1950s. The chapter then covers progress-decade-by-decade-in technology, circuitry, and applications of converters during the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Where relevant, historical contexts are also noted in some of the later chapters.

The second chapter, fundamentals of sampled-data systems, sets the stage for hardware design-discussing coding and quantizing, sampling theory, data-converter ac errors, general data-converter specifications, and definitions of specifications.

Chapter 3, data-converter architectures, discusses DAC architectures, ADC architectures, and sigma-delta converters. Although it concentrates on the most popular designs, it seeks not to neglect any significant approach. For example, among DACs it discusses the Kelvin divider (string DACs), thermometer (fully decoded DACs), binary-weighted DACs, R-2R DACs, segmented DACs, oversampling interpolating DACs, multiplying DACs, intentionally nonlinear DACs, counting pulsewidth-modulated (PWM) DACs, cyclic serial DACs, and "other low-distortion architectures"-and naturally, the sigma-delta converter section includes sigma-delta DACs.

The fourth chapter covers a wide range of data-converter process technologies, from the early vacuum-tube converters, through solid-state modular and hybrid converters, to bipolar, complementary-bipolar (CB), and CMOS integrated-circuit processes. Also covered are thin-film resistor and calibration processes; and there is a section on smart partitioning: optimizing performance, space, and cost by intelligent choice of process partitioning within a package.

Chapter 5 provides in-depth discussions of a wide variety of testing techniques for static and dynamic performance characteristics of DACs and ADCs. The following chapter, interfacing to data converters, has a major section devoted to analog interface considerations in driving ADC inputs. Other sections in this chapter include ADC and DAC digital interfaces (and related issues), buffering DAC analog outputs, data-converter voltage references, and sampling-clock generation.

Chapter 7, data-converter support circuits, discusses in depth such important analog auxiliary circuits as voltage references; low-dropout (LDO) linear regulator circuits; analog-, digital-, and video switches (including cross-point types) and multiplexers; and sample (track)-and-hold circuits.

The foregoing chapters, some 60% of the book, amount to a virtual appetizer for the banquet of tutorial material in the last two chapters: data-converter applications (Chapter 8) and hardware design techniques (Chapter 9). These two chapters amount to a practical course on design solutions and techniques that can enrich the portfolio of any designer, from the technician and recent graduate to the hardened systems engineer.

The wide-ranging coverage in Chapter 8 is apportioned among eight topics: precision measurement and sensor conditioning, multichannel data-acquisition systems, digital potentiometers, digital audio, digital video and display electronics, software radio and IF sampling, direct digital synthesis, and precision analog microcontrollers.

Finally, Chapter 9's 185 pages are in themselves essentially a textbook for the hardware designer. Its eight topical areas are labeled: passive components, pc-board design issues, analog power-supply systems, overvoltage protection, thermal management, EMI/RFI considerations, low-voltage logic interfacing, and breadboarding & prototyping. Chapter 9 is followed by a comprehensive subject index and an indexed listing of Analog Devices products mentioned in the book.

This book will be a valuable addition to the library of the student, the practicing circuit design engineer and technician, and anyone else who needs a good practical grasp of what is needed for a successful marriage between the analog and digital worlds.




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[i] Full disclosure: Dan Sheingold also wrote a Foreword for the book (page xvii).

I have many SDM related books written by American, so I buy this book as it is (seems to be) from Europe. Not amazing that the content layout is quite different from the others.

For example, in this book, you will find some interest topics like constructing a SDM ADC by LF356 and CD4013 (bandwidth is limited to few hundred Hz as we can all expected), and some non-ADC or DAC applications of SDM techniques (presented in last chapter, which really inspire me).

You may need some other books if for designing a practical SDM products, but this book is really good for students or system design engineers, due to its simplicity.

This is an excellent introductory book covering basic material like modeling, stabilization, tone suppression and circuit design. I found it very useful in introducing me to the field. The exercises and the provided solutions in the web were useful too!

If you have problems in understanding other delta-sigma books, Bourdopoulos' book will be good for you.
I am searching for an introductory book for my students, but most other books are either too difficult or focused on narrow topics.
Bourdopoulos has many step-by-step explanations for equations that other books skip.
Also, I like that the authors are providing solutions for the end-of-chapter problems on the web.

N. Edward Walker, The Design Analysis Handbook. A Practical Guide to Design Validation. Newnes, 1998 A Review This is a very daring and matter-of-fact book. It deals with a very important issue: how to handle the uncertainty involved in the design of electronic circuits. This uncertainty has several sources: 1. The equations one uses in design are based on assumptions that simplify the real life situation; 2. The actual values of the electronic components differ from their nominal values; 3. The human error in handling the complex equations can seldom be avoided. The effects of these uncertainties often become visible in the late stages of product development, when correction measures are costly, if not ineffective, so that the final product does not meet the quality requirements. Ed. Walker's approach is consistent with the principles of concurrent engineering. He advocates the cooperation within a team of design and quality engineers, in order to get the product right the first time, by avoiding the bugs in the R&D and design phases. The first chapter examines the state-of-the-art of the design and Q&R engineering practices, pointing to the extending gulf between the two disciplines. The importance of robust design validation is emphasized and the disadvantages of the present tools and methods are mentioned. These will be examined in detail with some excitingly polemic overtones in chapter 5, under the heading "bad science". In the second chapter, a new kind of worst-case analysis is introduced, more efficient than the classical Monte Carlo simulation approach. The outcome of this analysis is a procedure for risk assessment and a methodology for design correction and optimization. Next, in the third chapter, several design validation topics are considered and computer-aided solutions are presented, notably the software tool Design Master that accompanies the book. I used this software in a teaching environment and I was impressed by its high quality. The author practices what he preaches, so that the software product he delivers has all the "abilities" involved by the "total" quality concept: usability, reliability, supportability, portability and so on. However, quality validation of software products is a topic not examined in-depth. The safety analysis presented in chapter 4 introduces in simple and straightforward manner methods like FMEA and FTA, which are extensively dealt with elsewhere, but within an excessively sophisticated framework. The last chapter offers useful and interesting tips for electronic circuit quality analysis. The "difficult" subjects, such as Power and Thermal analysis, Grounding and Layout and EMI / Noise control, usually avoided in textbooks, are duly examined in detail. The case studies concerning Rectifier Circuits, Power Supplies, Digital circuits are completely worked-out, so that everyone can use them as an available guide. The appendices provide templates for analysis reports, a framework for the application of the original methods proposed in the book and a whimsical overview of engineering projects. Th book is a no-nonsense, straightforward approach to difficult and sophisticated quality issues that can arise in an engineering environment. It provides useful guidelines, powerful tools and effective methods for total quality improvement and assurance.

The Design Analysis Handbook combines the best aspects of Design Validation methods, Worst Case Analysis and lessons learned I've seen in one text. Ed sucessfully captured and explained information and techniques that many companies fail to pass-on to new Engineers. This text should be a must read for new engineers.

The first four or five chapters of this book explain in detail the statistical analysis technique WCA+. The text is easy to read and requires only a limited probability and statistics background to understand how to apply the technique. The remaining chapters give concrete examples from the electrical engineering field. As a mechanical engineer I found the first few chapters very helpful and I have applied the technique successfully many times. Statistical design engineering is a must today and the WCA+ method is an excellent alternative monte carlo simulation. If you are concerned with the response of your system at the extreme values of the inputs then, this book is a must because monte carlo simulation just doesn't suffice.

This is **THE** analog ICs book. Thorough, lucid, and uncompromising. It has no peers!

it's a very good analog design book for beginner. it not only gives a good analysis on circuits, also offers valuable design tricks. very practical, clear illustrated and well organized.

I was looking for a book that really goes deep into the circuit and analyze everything including its exact behaviour, stability..etc. Although many books claims to do that, most of them just sail in the shallow water! This book, however, was incredible in its insight into the analog circuit in a way that makes you a real master in analog circuits!

John Holland does an excellent job of describing the real-world practices required for programming successful mobile robots. His approach is relevant for all software engineers involved in developing embedded control systems. One of the most entertaining aspects of his book are the war stories about remotely debugging misbehaving robots in the field. After reading this book, you will know why he is considered "The Father of Mobile Robotics"!

A fascinating read, and a must for those interested in robotic design. Additionally, parts of the book are humorous and quite entertaining!

In this tour de force, John M. Holland serves up a feast that should be both didactic and entertaining to engineering professors and neophyte-technophiles alike. His wit and wisdom are generously shared in ways that are both lucid and compelling. His personal parables are not only entertaining but beautifully illustrative of even the most arcane of his topics. And John balances cautionary tales with an abiding conviction that service robots will eventually have a huge presence in both private industrial and governmental applications.

Radio frequency integrated circuits are the tiny semiconductor chips which comprise the radio transmitters and radio receivers inside today's wireless devices. For example, cell phones, Bluetooth "ear buds" and Wi-Fi routers all owe their phenomenal capabilities and compact size to radio frequency integrated circuit technology. Dr. Allen A. Sweet, Adjunct Professor of Electrical Engineering at SCU has recently written a book, Designing Bipolar Transistor Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits, (Artech House, 2008) devoted to the science and art of designing radio frequency integrated circuits using bipolar transistor technology. This book is based on a series of graduate level classes (ELEN 351, ELEN 359/354) which he has taught at SCU since 2002.
Bipolar transistors were the original solid state amplifiers invented by the Nobel Prize winning team of Shockley, Brattain, and Bardeen in 1947. Their invention, a point contact transistor, was actually a primitive ancestor of today's bipolar transistor. In recent years, this class of transistor has largely been replaced by field effect transistors such as CMOS and MESFETS. Although the bipolar transistor had been lagging behind the field effect transistor in terms of speed and power consumption, this performance gap has recently been closed as a direct result of a new development in bipolar transistor technology called the heterojunction. To optimize a bipolar transistor's performance, heterojunction bipolar transistors use a structure containing two or more different crystal types with different band gap energies. This technique achieves significant performance advantages over the traditional method of tailoring the doping impurity levels within the transistor to optimize performance. H. Kromer received the Nobel Prize in 2000 for his pioneering work on heterojunction devices. Some examples of heterojunction bipolar transistor structures include SiGe, InGaP/GaAs, and InP. The different "flavors" of heterojunction bipolar transistors, as a family, behave like normal bipolar transistors, but with significantly enhanced performance. All the standard types of bipolar circuits work equally well with a wide variety of heterojunction bipolar transistors.
Bipolar transistors have some truly unique advantages when applied to radio frequency circuits. First and foremost, the phase noise associated with a bipolar transistor is considerably lower than the phase noise associated with a similar field effect transistor. This significant reduction in phase noise associated with bipolar transistors increases the overall signal-to-noise ratio of a radio link, increasing both data rate and unit to unit range. Also, bipolar transistors operate from a single polarity of power supply, and offer significant advantages when operating as highly linear power amplifiers. Bipolar transistors deliver excellent performance in mixer (i.e. frequency converter) circuits of all kinds. Bipolar transistors use the integrated circuit's surface area more efficiently than do their field effect cousins, leading to smaller, more compact, integrated circuit chips. Furthermore, the fabrication process that is used with bipolar transistor technology is considerably less complex than that used with an equivalent field effect transistor. This simplicity of fabrication naturally leads to higher processing yield, and lower prototyping costs relative to equivalent field effect transistor integrated circuits.
Dr. Sweet's book covers in depth the design of many different types of circuit topologies required for the construction of today's standard radio architectures. The circuit types described include power amplifiers, low noise amplifiers, mixers, frequency multipliers, filters, phase shifters, power splitters, and couplers. Detailed circuit design examples are presented, including simulations which may be duplicated by readers with appropriate simulation software. An introduction to radio architectures, a discussion of wireless applications, and a detailed description of InGaP/GaAs and SiGe fabrication technologies are included. A discussion of physical layout and economic considerations with integrated circuits is also presented.

The following is a personal testimonial from Bun Lau (SCU MSEE graduate, 2005) concerning his experience as an ELEN 351 student. Much of the material covered in ELEN 351 is found in Dr. Sweet's book:
"ELEN 351 was quite simply, the best course I have ever taken in my entire academic career. In many ways, the course tied together all my microwave loose ends and offered the most practical curriculum in preparing me for industry. Dr. Sweet was extremely well-prepared (he provided us with his own lecture notes), a superb lecturer, and his 30+ years of industry experience coupled with his academic background provided students with the necessary microwave theory and techniques in becoming a budding RF designer. The homework assignments allowed students to ground themselves with what they learned in lecture and ensured they would be comfortable with the design tools needed to finish the final class project. This is one of the few classes in which the final project closely mirrors what a prospective student can expect in the RFIC industry. To this day, I still fall back on the lecture notes and my own chicken scratch from Dr. Sweet's lectures as reference."

Radio frequency integrated circuits are the tiny semiconductor chips which comprise the radio transmitters and radio receivers inside today's wireless devices. For example, cell phones, Bluetooth "ear buds" and Wi-Fi routers all owe their phenomenal capabilities and compact size to radio frequency integrated circuit technology. Dr. Allen A. Sweet, Adjunct Professor of Electrical Engineering at SCU has recently written a book, Designing Bipolar Transistor Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits, (Artech House, 2008) devoted to the science and art of designing radio frequency integrated circuits using bipolar transistor technology. This book is based on a series of graduate level classes (ELEN 351, ELEN 359/354) which he has taught at SCU since 2002.
Bipolar transistors were the original solid state amplifiers invented by the Nobel Prize winning team of Shockley, Brattain, and Bardeen in 1947. Their invention, a point contact transistor, was actually a primitive ancestor of today's bipolar transistor. In recent years, this class of transistor has largely been replaced by field effect transistors such as CMOS and MESFETS. Although the bipolar transistor had been lagging behind the field effect transistor in terms of speed and power consumption, this performance gap has recently been closed as a direct result of a new development in bipolar transistor technology called the heterojunction. To optimize a bipolar transistor's performance, heterojunction bipolar transistors use a structure containing two or more different crystal types with different band gap energies. This technique achieves significant performance advantages over the traditional method of tailoring the doping impurity levels within the transistor to optimize performance. H. Kromer received the Nobel Prize in 2000 for his pioneering work on heterojunction devices. Some examples of heterojunction bipolar transistor structures include SiGe, InGaP/GaAs, and InP. The different "flavors" of heterojunction bipolar transistors, as a family, behave like normal bipolar transistors, but with significantly enhanced performance. All the standard types of bipolar circuits work equally well with a wide variety of heterojunction bipolar transistors.
Bipolar transistors have some truly unique advantages when applied to radio frequency circuits. First and foremost, the phase noise associated with a bipolar transistor is considerably lower than the phase noise associated with a similar field effect transistor. This significant reduction in phase noise associated with bipolar transistors increases the overall signal-to-noise ratio of a radio link, increasing both data rate and unit to unit range. Also, bipolar transistors operate from a single polarity of power supply, and offer significant advantages when operating as highly linear power amplifiers. Bipolar transistors deliver excellent performance in mixer (i.e. frequency converter) circuits of all kinds. Bipolar transistors use the integrated circuit's surface area more efficiently than do their field effect cousins, leading to smaller, more compact, integrated circuit chips. Furthermore, the fabrication process that is used with bipolar transistor technology is considerably less complex than that used with an equivalent field effect transistor. This simplicity of fabrication naturally leads to higher processing yield, and lower prototyping costs relative to equivalent field effect transistor integrated circuits.
Dr. Sweet's book covers in depth the design of many different types of circuit topologies required for the construction of today's standard radio architectures. The circuit types described include power amplifiers, low noise amplifiers, mixers, frequency multipliers, filters, phase shifters, power splitters, and couplers. Detailed circuit design examples are presented, including simulations which may be duplicated by readers with appropriate simulation software. An introduction to radio architectures, a discussion of wireless applications, and a detailed description of InGaP/GaAs and SiGe fabrication technologies are included. A discussion of physical layout and economic considerations with integrated circuits is also presented.

The following is a personal testimonial from Bun Lau (SCU MSEE graduate, 2005) concerning his experience as an ELEN 351 student. Much of the material covered in ELEN 351 is found in Dr. Sweet's book:
"ELEN 351 was quite simply, the best course I have ever taken in my entire academic career. In many ways, the course tied together all my microwave loose ends and offered the most practical curriculum in preparing me for industry. Dr. Sweet was extremely well-prepared (he provided us with his own lecture notes), a superb lecturer, and his 30+ years of industry experience coupled with his academic background provided students with the necessary microwave theory and techniques in becoming a budding RF designer. The homework assignments allowed students to ground themselves with what they learned in lecture and ensured they would be comfortable with the design tools needed to finish the final class project. This is one of the few classes in which the final project closely mirrors what a prospective student can expect in the RFIC industry. To this day, I still fall back on the lecture notes and my own chicken scratch from Dr. Sweet's lectures as reference."

This book covers nearly everything an RF engineer needs to be familiar with modern bipolar transistor technology. The author provides enough historical content to make modern RFIC design relevant and interesting. Additionally, the author starts with a traditional transceiver architecture to highlight different components before going into detail on how to design the components. The provided design examples are equally effective. For those who are familiar with Agilent's ADS EDA, all design examples provide a litany of screen shots from the tool giving the RF engineer an almost step-by-step design process.

This book is a must have for any novice or experienced RF engineer!

The best book about PIC microcontrollers.
It covers 16F and 18F families.

As an amateur roboticist, I wanted a book that would cover the PIC16 and the PIC18 architecture in detail, and this is the book I needed. I was hesitant to learn PIC Assembler since I already knew x86 C, and it was no problem to move to PIC C for me. This book showed me that PIC Assembler is necessary if you really want to know about the architecture (and if you really need precise timing). I realized it was not a big hassle after all. Although the author tells you to skip the chapters on PIC Assembler and move on to C if you wish to do so, I did not, and I am glad I did not. This books is the PIC Bible for me. It is an awesome tutorial, and a marvelous reference for the beginner and the novice PIC enthusiast. The author provides many working examples (on a pong game, and a complete robot - the Derbot AGV). I have not finished it yet, but I use it as a reference all the time as I also continue learning more about the PIC architecture and assembler. Assembler was scary for me before I bought this book, now it is not. If you need a book that covers it all, buy this book, you will not regret it.

It's been a long while now that I have been purchasing every PIC related book that I can find and finally this one was recommended by my local Micro supplier. The fall down with most publications is that you start with the 16F84 (fantastic micro, no doubt) and then just as things get interesting the book ends.

This book avoids that and does a whole lot more. The first few chapters devoted to theory, but then hey we are not all genius level. The book then takes the reader form the 16F84 right the way through to more advanced micros e.g. 16F873. All the while expanding on the knowledge base and building ever better projects. The overall project theme of the book is the little Robot, which is great. You apply what you learn as you go practically.

Another major advantage is that in the latter part of the book the transition is made to C i.e. that High level language the gets you away from assembler. Not really a teach all you need on C, but enough to get you going and get the projects working.

I would really recommend the book to anyone who wants to avoid buying every other book just to find the right one. All the essential detail and information required is contained within these two covers and is great value for money for novice or intermediate / Advanced user.

A great tech/business crossover book. Provides specifics on how the technology described can help your business save time and money by automating responses to customers. James has really developed an important technology that can have a positive impact on many businesses if they chose to apply it.

In this time of heightened security concerns, this technology provides key capabilities. By allowing secure access to existing information without the need to create elaborate Web interfaces, desktop hosting makes better security attainable for every business. The full working version of the software helped me get up and running, and this book guided me through the process with ease.

This book was a good read for me. The author makes some good points on how the nature of desktop hosting can shape how the web can and should be utilized for unattended communication. I'd recommend this to anyone who wants good techinical information on desktop hosting as well as business owners who want to leverage more of the web for e-business.