Circuit Design book for programmers

Question

I need a book that teaches circuit design that will be useful when programming microcontrollers. Usually when I join a project, before I can start programming any logic into the microcontroller, it needs to be integrated into a circuit with a power supply, transducer, etc. I find that I'm lacking the skills to do this myself but once the circuit is set up and someone shows me where the Vcc and gnd wires go, I can usually program the controller fine myself.

So I need a book that is geared towards programmers but will be useful when I need to setup a circuit. I'm not looking for a theoretical textbook that will teach Ohm's law and Kirchoff's law since I already have a few of those. I'm looking for something more like a reference guide or a cookbook. Something that will show me when a voltage divider will be useful or how to pick different valued components.

I hope this question wasn't too hardware oriented and although it's not about programming, it is about the things I need to do before I can program.

Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Hello

Can I suggest you need "The Art of Electronics" by Paul Horowitz and Winfield Hill. This is a pretty standard textbook and should be easy enough to get hold of. It contains some theory but lots of practical electronics including examples of good and bad circuit. Even more practical are some very thin books produced by Radio Shack called the "Engineer's Mini-Notebook" series. I have had a collection of those for over 20 years and still need them every month or so.

All the best

Ian

Answer 2

I don't know about other microcontrollers but AVR has a nice introductory Application Note: http://www.atmel.com/dyn/resources/prod%5Fdocuments/doc2521.pdf

It goes over how you should connect the power supply, reset lines, etc. It may not be complete but I find it has a few good tips for any microcontroller, but specifically AVR. Look for other such application notes from your vendor.