Being self-taught for what it's worth, I really enjoy looking at other's sc=
hematics and PCB designs and trying to understand why things are done the w=
ay the are.  Amongst many things, there are two common designs I see that I=
 don't understand:

Parallel caps:   one schematic I recently saw placed eight 1uf caps togethe=
r.  All tied to +V and GND and nothing else in their own separate block on =
the schematic.  Couldn't this be replaced with a single 8uf cap?  Other cap=
s can be found throughout the design that simply connect between +V and GND=
..  Why no replace them all with a single cap of the sum value?  Same design=
 has a 1uf and .1uf cap in parallel in other places but not necessarily dir=
ectly between +V and GND.  Replace with 1.1uf to reduce parts count?

Another thing I see commonly, are GND vias sprinkled all over the PCB.  Any=
 rhyme or reason for this?

Thanks,
Nate=20
--=20
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