Given that I don't think in terms of
programming, and am much happer
with a scheamtic than with a VHDL listing, and that I am much, much,
happier with a 'scope than a simulator, is there any hope for me?
Define "hope" and maybe I can tell you. :-/
OK, will there ever be a time/place where I can make use of what (limited)
skills/abilities I possess? Or am I going to haev to stack shelves (when
I'd rather be stacking variables) or flip burgers (when I prefer
flip-flops :-))
Or should i connect myself between the anode and
cathode of an 807
running at full power?
Well, I feel quite certain that I speak for more than just myself when
I say you'd be sorely missed here.
But I know what you mean. More and more often, in recent years, I've
felt severely out of step with the society I'm trying to live in, and
one respect - the one that seems to me to be most relevant here - is
that I strongly believe in understanding things all the way down. (Of
I think you know me well enough to know that I do too. This doesn't mean
I don't use high-level languages. It doesn't mean I won't use CAD tools.
It doesn't mean I won;t use VLSI chips. What ie means is that I won't use
any of those (any many other things besides) without understnading what
the do, and without understanding what the final result of any of those
tools really is. So, for example, I'll write in C and compile it, and
most of the time that's all I need to do, but sometimes I'll read part of
the assembly-language output of the compiler to see just what it is
doing. And sometimes I'll use a logic analyser to see that bit of code
actually executing.
And of course I don't always feel that 'modern' complex solution is the
best one. A microcontroller is not the answer to every problem. Yes,
they're useful devices, and yes I use them. But sometimes the problem can
be solved in a couple of simple logic chips, or even a few discrete
transistors. And those are generally the solutions I prefer. I must have
told you about the educational 'robot' kits I bought, one designed in the
UK and a couple from the Far East.
I get the feeling that, especially with high tech, we
are running on
autopilot as far as understanding is concerned: we as a society don't
really grok things, but are just using what's already in place and
Indeed. And it worries me -- a lot...
forgetting we don't know how it works and
aren't competent to fix it.
My views on being able to fix everything I use are well-known...
-tony