Digital Design is fun and relatively easy, but nobody is born knowing this stuff. At some point, it’s helpful to have good reference materials. Here are links to several books, datasheets, websites, and other resources — both on Digital Design and on other interesting topics — that I’ve found helpful and/or fun to read over the years.
Disclaimer: The book URLs link to Amazon, and they offer me a small commission for purchases made through these links, but I do personally use (and recommend) each of these books — whether you buy them on Amazon, read them in the local library, find a copy at a local bookseller, or borrow them from a friend. Amazon has always seemed to provide good service for me, and I can recommend their services — and these books — without hesitation.
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The Art of Electronics (Horowitz & Hill) An excellent guide to introductory electronics, including both circuit theory and practical tips and tricks. Definitely recommended if you will be designing electronic circuits. |
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The C Programming Language (Kernighan & Ritchie) This is the book on C programming. C geeks refer to it simply as “K&R”. (I actually have the first edition of this one, but plan on upgrading to the second edition shortly.) |
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Chaos (James Gleick) This isn’t a book on engineering, but a fascinating discussion of the emerging science of chaos / dynamic systems. Chaos is (very roughly) the study of how small inputs to a system can end up having large-scale effects. |
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The Z-80 Microcomputer Handbook (William J. Barden) This is an excellent guide to both connecting and programming a Z80 CPU. It shows the various connections that need to be made to the address, data, and control busses, along with an explanation of how these control pins operate. In addition, it serves as a good introduction to Z80 assembly programming. I used this book almost exclusively when designing and programming the DrACo/Z80. It’s a great one-stop resource for getting started with Z80s. |
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The Road to Reality (Roger Penrose, Ph.D) This book is essentially a complete college Physics curriculum in one book. It takes readers from a basic understanding of math (starting roughly with fractions), up through many of the concepts encountered in modern physics. It’s over 1,000 pages, the first 300 or so of which serve as a course in the mathematics that is needed for the rest of the book. The first hundred pages or so are relatively accessible (depending on your math background), and the material becomes more challenging and more interesting from there. It’s definitely a book to be read a few pages at a time. |
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BASIC Scientific Subroutines (Volumes I and II) (F. R. Ruckdeschel) These books contain many useful scientific subroutines. Even if your language of choice isn’t BASIC, the programs are easy enough to read, and can be readily translated into more modern languages such as C/C++. |
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Programming and Customizing the PIC Microcontroller (Myke Predko) This is a good introduction to PIC microcontroller programming. While Microchip’s freely-available datasheets do have pretty much everything you need to know — and are a good primary resource — in-depth, tutorial-oriented books like this make it much easier to get started with PIC programming. |
