What electronic knowledge should college students learn?

fighting

What electronic knowledge should college students learn? [Copy link]

Many college students have written to me, asking what electronic knowledge they should learn in school. The employment situation is becoming more and more severe, not only in China, but also in the world. The global economic development speed is slowing down, which will last for at least a few years. The semiconductor industry is currently in a low ebb, and many companies are laying off employees and making losses. However, technology is still improving, and Moore's Law is still in effect. The integration, speed, and price of semiconductor products are all developing according to Moore's Law. There are many college students who just muddle through in college, but there are also some hard-working students who want to master more knowledge.

I admire students who hope to find a good job after graduation or want to create a career. I believe that hard work pays off and your efforts will not be in vain. This world is a society where the fittest survive and the unfit are eliminated. In companies like Huawei, countless people come in and out. Those who can adapt stay, and those who can't, leave .

　　Some netizens asked me, how did you spend your time in college? I am a person with a strong interest in electronics. When I was in high school, I started to use a soldering iron and messed up the electrical appliances at home (I took them apart and didn’t know how to put them back together, but of course I don’t do that now).

In college, I was very interested in electronics, and I bought some devices myself (I studied at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, and Guangzhou is a very good market. Components are easy to buy, both old and new. At the beginning, I didn’t have much money in my pocket, so I bought some old components). Then I assembled the speakers myself. There were so many problems in the beginning, and it took me a semester to finish them. Because of the many problems, I often went to the library to look up information and went to the bookstore to read (when I didn’t have money to buy books, I would copy a passage back), and I learned a lot about analog circuits. Later, I assembled an inverter (the school had to turn off the lights at night and there was no electricity). The inverter can provide electricity when the lights are turned off, and other dormitories can also use it. Even if there was a power outage, my dormitory would not have power outage (there was an inverter for power supply). Once the lights were turned off, classmates would come to our dormitory to chat (other dormitories were all dark), which was also very fun. We also watched football games in the middle of the night. We also assembled CDs, VCDs, and video recorders. Our dormitory became an entertainment center. We could do karaoke, watch TV, and watch videos. In the entire physics department, our dormitory had the most complete entertainment facilities. I don’t know how many VCDs we have watched. Many classmates were from Guangzhou and brought a lot of VCDs from home (some of my classmates’ fathers were caught smuggling and confiscated a lot of VCDs, so they also brought them to watch). Every afternoon at 6 o’clock, we would start playing VCDs, and many people would watch them.

Through these assemblies, I learned a lot about analog circuits and digital circuits. Although I am not good at other courses, the circuit course is first-rate.

　　I didn't learn much about microcontrollers and FPGAs in college because the knowledge in school was too backward. I learned it only when I went to work.

I think that interest is the best teacher for electronics . If you are not interested, then it is best not to choose electronics as a major, because sometimes it is tiring (a small problem may take a long time to solve), and many times it works in theory but not in practice.

　　Without further ado, let's talk about what you should master. There is a lot of knowledge in electronics, which is many times more than computer knowledge. To learn computers, you only need to master a few languages, but to engage in electronics, you need much more comprehensive knowledge, such as analog circuits, digital circuits, single-chip microcomputers, circuit plate making, etc.... Because there is so much electronic knowledge, hardware companies generally have more employees and more detailed division of labor and cooperation. Because a person's ability is limited, it is impossible to master all the knowledge. For example, some people specialize in designing shells, some specialize in designing circuit boards, some specialize in factory testing, some specialize in writing programs, some specialize in logic design, and some specialize in high-frequency wireless...

　　Someone asked me, do you want to change your career now? My answer is no, because no matter what you do, if you don't master it, you will still be useless. The electronics industry requires people to specialize in one field, rather than learn one field and then abandon it.

I have a good foundation in single-chip microcomputer and CPLD, so I will be very good at designing in this field. If you switch to other designs, such as shell design, you will have to start from scratch.

　　Therefore, in college, you must master some basic knowledge (this is necessary, after all, you don't know what job you will do after graduation). The basic knowledge mainly includes analog circuits and digital circuits and advanced mathematics knowledge (compulsory courses). Then focus on learning some other knowledge, such as single-chip microcomputers, FPGA, PCB design, DSP (these are all elective courses). Don't learn everything, just learn what you are interested in and have the conditions.

Some people write in their resumes what they have learned, and list a lot of things. I think such people are bragging, or they are not proficient in what they have learned. In every field, if you want to be proficient, you may need to learn for 10 or 8 years, not just one or two years. If I were to recruit, I would instead value those who have not learned a lot of knowledge in their resumes, but have mastered it. These people generally have more practical experience. Practice is much more important than theory, especially for those who work in electronics. Especially for high frequency, the theory is good, but the practice is often not, but the practice is good, but it is difficult to explain in theory.

　　For single-chip microcomputers, you should mainly learn about 51 single-chip microcomputers. Although there are some other single-chip microcomputers, such as AVR, PIC, MSP430, ST, MOTOROLA, etc., 51 is still the most used by enterprises. There are only a few electronic manufacturers that do not use 51. For job hunting, if you know 51, you can go to many companies. But if the other party does not use other single-chip microcomputers at all, then they will not consider hiring you.

Of course, it is possible to learn about other MCUs, but the focus is still on 51. The main reason is that the development tools of 51 are relatively mature, and there are quite a lot of suppliers, so there is no need to worry about the supply problem. 51 is an open core, produced by many manufacturers, while other cores are not open and are produced exclusively.

Learning 51, mainly based on Keil C51, to learn, because Keil C51 is the best compiler in the world (personally think), there are many people who know Keil, and the technical support is complete.

V6.xx version is the basis for learning, do not use DOS version or Keil C51

V5.xx, these versions are almost obsolete, only some emulator manufacturers treat them as treasures and embed low-version compilers. This practice is always backward. Currently, Keil C51 is specifically described.

There is no V6.xx book yet. In order to help you learn and keep pace with the times, I wrote some tutorials for your reference. I will look at some other MCU materials when I have time.

　　PCB plate making, you can learn Protel99, there are many books introducing Protel99, and it is also easy to buy. It does not take a lot of time to learn circuit plate making, you can master it, and if you have the conditions, it is best to actually make a circuit board yourself.

　　CPLD and FPGA are programmable logic circuits. It is necessary to spend time to learn them. At present, the technology of some enterprises is still relatively backward, and they often use some outdated chips such as 8155, 8237, 138 , etc. There is no way, these are all what we learn in school. GAL and CPLD can completely replace these circuits. And the cost is cheap. I feel dizzy when I see the circuits sent to me by some netizens. There are a bunch of 74hc00, 74hc04, 4069, 373, 138, etc. The board is very large. Why not use a GAL or CPLD to solve it?

Using these chips not only makes the circuit wiring complex and prone to problems, but also affects the yield rate and is easy to be copied. To create more complex logic, CPLD and FPGA are the only options. The design of CPLD is mainly from Xilinx and Altera. You can learn one of them. These development boards are generally available for purchase, and many people make and sell them. My website will mainly focus on Altera's, because the software is free, my website has downloads, and the chips are also easy to buy.

When I was learning, I mainly focused on graphic design. After all, language design is still relatively abstract. If I have time, I can deepen my understanding and learn VHDL language.

　　DSP knowledge requires people to have a good math foundation. If you are good at math, you can take this course. The threshold for DSP design is relatively high, and the development tools are relatively expensive. There are relatively few colleges and universities that offer DSP courses. Most schools do not have the conditions to learn. Those who have the conditions can learn it, and those who don't have the conditions can just not learn it.

　　Other knowledge, such as high-frequency circuits and shell design (AutoCAD), are highly professional knowledge. Those who study this major can learn it, but those who are not majoring in this major do not need to learn it.

　　Summarize:

1. Learn basic knowledge of analog circuits, digital circuits, advanced mathematics, etc.

2. Required single chip microcomputer, PCB circuit board design

3. Elective courses include CPLD, DSP, high frequency circuit, shell design, etc.

4. Those with strong abilities should learn more, while those with weak abilities should learn less.

5. Pay attention to practice, do more hands-on work, and integrate theory with practice.

　　This is my opinion, I hope you can criticize and correct me.

mdreamj

I totally agree, but I feel that many things are still not applicable or I don't know how to use them. There are a lot of theories, but I don't know how to use them in practice. Maybe it's because I don't practice enough. Are there any particularly good practical opportunities? Most of the ones organized by the school are relatively basic, simple, or even useless. I feel that

suiwinder

Totally agree, very good.

rain

This is good. I suggest that the webmaster promote this post so that everyone here can see it.

ccgquarterback

Thank you OP!

fighting

You're welcome

sxy841012

Oh~ I read the article and it was so cool~