>> Everyone always says that- "You're so lucky it works at all!"
>> NONE of my electronics labs even mentioned using bypass caps.
>> Is it simply a matter of no caps + low speed = success?  After all,
>> most of my labs involved EXTREMELY low speeds (10 Hz or less).
>
> Yes, circuits operating from DC to 10 Hz don't need decoupling
> capacitors. At least, I've never encountered a design this slow that
> needed them.

Even 10Hz circuits are really much more than 10Hz if the contain digital
signals.  After all, the power supply transients that the bypass caps help
to reduce are the result of the switching edges, not the steady state
between the edges.  A "10Hz" circuit may have fewer edges per second, but
any single edge can cause trouble without proper bypassing.


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