I started electronics the same way the OP did.  I have been in the computer
business for 25+ years, and didn't know what a pull up resister was.

I bought the Horowitz book and found it impractical.  I don't need to know
the theory, particularly when if you just put the parts together, it works.
And I am not going to become an engineer.  I will always need someone to
design good boards for manufacturing.

OK, for all you hardware gurus, try to control your laughter:

One of my first really good resources was Appendix C in Scott Edwards
"Programming and Customizing the Basic Stamp Computer."  That appendix,
along with the Chapter 3 on "Electronic Components and Symbols" gave me the
fundamentals to build my first breadboard computer.  Its the obvious stuff
that isn't obvious to me.
- How to connect a led and diode and how to tell one end from the other
- Why switches are better with a pull up than a pull down.
- How to switch a high current load.
- How to wire a voltage regulator.
- Resistances in series and parallel.

All of this is explained in about 20 pages making no assumptions about what
you already know.  Perfect.

The Mike Predko book, "Programming and Customizing PICmicro
Microcontrollers" also had a lot of good stuff.  But a lot of the book is
about computers, binary, and assembler.  I didn't need help there.

Bruce Partridge
http://www.rebreather.ca

> -----Original Message-----
> From: pic microcontroller discussion list
> [mailto:PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU]On Behalf Of Eisermann, Phil [Ridg/CO]
> Sent: Wednesday, June 02, 2004 9:06 AM
> To: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
> Subject: Re: [EE: ] what is a logic analyzer?
>
>
> pic microcontroller discussion list wrote:
> > What do I want to do?  Not sure.  I've been a programmer on
> > mainframes my whole life, and at the beginning of this year my wife
> > got me a little robot kit, from there I went to PIC's, and now I'm
> > trying to learn electronics, something I've tried to understand since
> > I was a kid.  (Is it a different way of thinking, electronics and
> > programming?)
> >
> > So the truth is that I was programming Pic assembler in a couple of
> > days, but it took me about a month to figure out what a pull-up
> > resistor was, for example.  (-:
> >
>
> might be a good idea to get a book, then. If you don't already have it,
> get "The Art Of Electronics" by Horowitz and Hill. I think it would be
> ideal for you. It isn't geared towards EE students, but it is not
> dumbed down at all. It gets recommended on this list quite often and
> covers a broad spectrum of topics.
>
>
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