FWIW, that's what I've been trying to do.
In th eend, it mainyl depends upon one's aptitude. My strong aptitudesare
mostly right-brain/conceptual-analytical/visual, whereas my weakest pointhas
always been Math and related linear-logical subjects.
Sometimes you really do need to take a class. I was fine at C
programming (self taught from books, after taking a Pascal class) but
I just couldn't understand C++ from books. Then I took a class. An
analogy: C is like walking into a jewelry store, taking what you
like, and leaving the cash on the counter. C++ is like walking into a
jewelry store, asking the clerk for a ring, the clerk takes the ring
out of the locked case, then you pay for it. Slower, less efficient,
but more security. Ah! Now I get it.
There are entire books on-line - I also bought a couple - "Practical
Electronics for Inventors" is IMO great! I still needed to fill in a bit
with other references, including my old Physics text from University (yup, I
took 101 and 102 - but stank at it) but the latter was because PEfI was
confusing re: Capacitors.
One of the most confusing thing is that different book use different symbols
for some things - most common seems to be "E" versus "V" for Volts, but the
more egregious IMO is C sometimes meaning "capacitance" and sometimes meaning
"charge".
I thought the convention for charge was "Q".
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/hframe.html
You also have to keep track, in the formulae, of those pesky prefixes, such
as micro-, milli-, mega-, and so on.
I've been finding it useful to write up my own "book" or notes, collecting
all the various formulae, because the books don't necessarily do a great job
of relating one section with another and explaining how it all fits together.
So true. I did the exact same thing when studying for my licensing
exam (not in electronics).
OTOH, unilke me!, people with an aptitude for electronics can "see" in their
heads how it all fits together. So if you are like that, self-teaching
shouldn't be at all bad.
In case you're wondering, I'm teaching myself becuase i have one specific
thing I want to do - I'm very "goal-oriented" in that I tend to learn what I
need to so as to do something sepcific, make a specific item/project. THat
probalby also makes it more difficult, because I don't have the patience to
"start from the beginning and learn it all through". If you have a
generalized interest in electronics itself, that, like natural aptitude for
math-related topics, will also make it easier.
In the meantime, try the links below as a starting-point.
HTH!
- Kris
Regards,
Michael
