Ask HN: What is the best way to get into building electronics as a programmer? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What is the best way to get into building electronics as a programmer?

#11

Post by nativeit » Mon, Feb 12, 2024, 8:11 PM UTC

magicalhippo wrote: post #5

I learned a lot from watching YouTube, here are some that IMHO have great content for this, in no particular order: https://www.youtube.com/@RobertFeranec https://www.youtube.com/@MicroTypeEngineering (includes some nice critiques of viewer-submitted designs) https://www.youtube.com/@AltiumAcademy (including some great conference talks) I've also really enjoyed these for more basic understanding of electronics: https…

YouTube was a HUGE resource for me following my Associate's program in EE. All of the channels they list above, plus here's some of my other favorites:

- https://www.youtube.com/@reps (German laserist and metrology nerd)

- https://www.youtube.com/@BenEater (famous for his breadboard 8-bit PC series)

- https://www.youtube.com/@mitxela (quirky DIY/hacker)

- https://www.youtube.com/@IMSAIGuy (HP/Bell Labs veteran)

- https://www.youtube.com/@Lantertronics (Georgia Tech professor of EE, excellent lectures in well-organized playlists)

- https://www.youtube.com/@tomtektest8042 (former CTO, EE prof, possibly passed away, but his channel is a TREASURE to any aspiring engineer)

- https://www.youtube.com/@mikeselectricstuff (British lighting/display guru)

- https://www.youtube.com/@ElPasoTubeAmps (Former NASA/Navy engineer, tube amps, radio broadcasting)

- https://www.youtube.com/@joesmith-je3tq (winner of the quickest breadboard oscillator on the planet a few years back with ~7GHz I think)

- https://www.youtube.com/@tesla500 (inventor of the Chronos high-speed cam)

- https://www.youtube.com/@Photonvids (entertaining "don't try this at home" high voltage experiments)

- https://www.youtube.com/@Thesignalpath (super-high competence teardown/analysis of high-end test equipment)

- https://www.youtube.com/@CuriousMarc (Bell Labs/PARC veteran, CTO of Samtec, restored an original Apollo 11 guidance computer to fully working condition--a national treasure)

- https://www.youtube.com/@NicholasRehm (EE grad student, inventor of dRehmFlight, an open-source flight controller for quad-copters)

- https://www.youtube.com/@AppliedScience (engineer at Google X, mad scientist)

That's my best recs for folks who focus on EE, and who put forth worthwhile content that is fun to watch and meaningfully educational. If anyone knows of some good EE Discord rooms, I'd love to know about them.

[EDIT: Formatting for readability]

Re: Ask HN: What is the best way to get into building electronics as a programmer?

#12

Post by nativeit » Mon, Feb 12, 2024, 8:19 PM UTC

mikewarot wrote: post #8

I'd strongly recommend getting an Arduino starter kit, something with motors, sensors, etc. You need to get an intuitive feel for series and parallel circuits, what capacitors do, etc. Also pick up a multimeter, and if you can, some form of Oscilloscope, so you can see the signals. As for the real world, most electrolytic capacitors from before 10 years ago are just junk. Tantalum capacitors tend to commit suicide by…

+1 for Horowitz's Art of Electronics. Get the original text, and the companion exercise book if possible. The original book is kind of pricey, but a worthwhile addition to any engineer's bookshelf as a lifelong reference.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best way to get into building electronics as a programmer?

#13

Post by epirogov » Wed, Feb 14, 2024, 3:27 PM UTC

For programmers, who know only one danger do not trunceate table on production database, I need to told for electronics beginner to make experiments with voltage below 36 Volts, please.