Rating: Summary: Not clearly written. Review: I found this text terribly unclear. It was obviously written by professors who forgot their audience is comprised of E.E. STUDENTS (whom this is their first exposure to such material). Also, the CD rom (included) and highly-touted author web site are juvenile and worthless- obviously introduced just to say "Hey, our text comes with a CD rom and supporting web site!" The authors could greatly improve their book by using a "back-to-basics" approach. Sit down with students trying to learn the material for the first time, and revise accordingly.
Rating: Summary: It depends! Review: In my theory the reason behind the great success of this book is that it is written for students in the way students like! As a matter of fact, learning from Sedra might be as tedious or maybe impossible as learning Greek from a Spanish text assuming that you know neither! It starts with bode plots and Op-amps. If you really have no idea about the very basic circuits and circuits' analysis (mesh analysis and node analysis) you will have a big trouble reading this book!
The text assumes that you understand the theory of operation of the reactive components and how for e.g. the RLC different configurations really work. Surly, if you are already familiar with the basic concepts of circuits' analysis you will find yourself enjoying the time all through the text.
However, the text is thorough by nature as it covers Op-amps, basic electronics (p-n junction and transistors), analog electronics and lastly digital electronics. Not every thing is perfect and ideal just like every text. Needless to say it is written by a human!
As a student, this text has a huge number of `solved' problems and exercises for you to practice which is preferred by students as it is the best way to check their understanding of concepts.
The Op-amps are thoroughly covered in the very beginning of the text which might not be preferred by those die hard bottom to up students. Despite the fact that Op-amps are not relevant before the analog electronics part it gives the reader motivation to go further in the subject. However, it connects your signals background with the analog implementation in such a comprehensive way that makes you need no other text whenever you are designing some Op-Amp based circuit which ,in turn, make this part a very useful part to consult whenever you are refreshing your memory beside that it is good and to the point to learn from!
For the first part of the text (Basic electronics), the presentation of information is not just intuitive, it is also a practical as it makes you see the big picture and not focused on the solid state physics which are taught in more advanced courses. In this part, the fast overview on solid state physics and the first time student friendly coverage of the analysis and design of simple circuits filled with a collection of relevant problems test some times the student insight and some other times the student knowledge of the theory make the student able to adapt with more advanced topics as fast as it is required for those increased pace courses. Moreover, it exposes the student to some advanced topics related with the industry which might motivate readers.
The Analog part of the text covers almost all topics needed in the undergraduate level as it covers thoroughly advanced topics like frequency response, filter design, Power amplifier classes and also there is one nice chapter devoted for Op-amp complete design.
The digital part is slightly covered compared with the analog part this text is more devoted to. It assumes that you are familiar with the very basic topics of electronics for e.g. Boolean algebra, logic gates ...etc. Although the digital part is not as thorough, the eye opener style gives the reader the ability to detect potential problems in digital integrated circuits in various ways as it gives you an example of implementing some digital integrated circuit then walks with you through it step by step then gives you the chance to see the problem then it solves it with you then shows you the modified (enhanced) circuit and do it the same way till you reach the best one that can resist noise, ground instability to some extent,overcome switching problems, ...etc; this is done in no more than two iterations! At some points you might find the technology used in some digital implementation is not as up to date as you might expect from a such a big text e.g. DTL; however, it rather gives you the creativity of the circuit designer than showing you the `free' latest technology journal! Which ironically is irrelevant as it depends on much more topics those are not covered in this volume!
To summarize this: if you are an undergrad. Student I strongly recommend this text to use all through the basic electronics course if and only if the course's topics are covered in the first part. Also, I would recommend this text on Analog electronics course which I find this text superior in the area to other texts I read (more than 3). As for digital electronics course I would recommend you use it as a supplementary text since it gives you some examples more involved with electronics than digital design concepts. Moreover, in such case I would recommend some other text like Tocci or Mano. Nevertheless, in my view, the text that would match Sedra in its analog part but in digital part is Rabaey.
As a circuits design professional (lucky you to have such a rare profession today!) this text would help you as long as you wont exceed the scale that make you think more about physics!
The bottom line is: This book will never be a waste of neither time nor money.
Rating: Summary: The Bible of Electronics Review: This book is all you need: If you want insight into the field of electronics as a hobbyist, technician or a professional engineer, this book is for you. It has complete coverage of basic electronic devices and circuits, analog circuits, and digital circuits. The book can also be used for self-study, but it can be hard to follow straight through since it's really organized more like a reference book than a textbook. If you're thinking about continuing your study of electronics on a more advanced level, this book will give you solid preparation. A word of advice: at some points in the book, the explanations are extremely clear and lucid; at other points the explanations are vague, and always where you least expect it! To get around this, solve as many example problems and exercises as possible, and the "fine points" of the explanations will become crystal clear. As you know, this is true for any engineering discipline, but it seems like the example problems were designed specifically to clarify the occasional "vaguenesses" of the text.
Rating: Summary: impractical and incomplete Review: I've been designing circuits for 10 years, and Sedra and Smith was the first electronics text I used. It might be the de facto introductory text in Canadian (and other) universities, but it's not really a good place to start learning. S&S proposes several completely impractical circuits, like two open-loop cascaded high-gain op-amps. It does not discuss current and voltage references in nearly enough detail and glosses over temperature and supply dependence. The treatment of feedback amplifiers is unnecessarily complex and yet not rigorous enough. Though the book implies that circuit noise is a problem, it does not discuss how noise is generated in circuit, nor how to calculate its effect. But circuit noise is the most fundamental problem facing designers. The problem is that S&S is dated. It was never strong on circuit theory fundamentals, and now its examples are out-of-date. It offers little or no insight into analog integrated circuits. This is not the right book to use if you want to learn either circuit theory or practical circuit design. For operational (transconductance) amplifier design, I would recommend Laker and Sansen's book, Design of Analog Integrated Circuits and Systems.
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