Designing

I frequently receive electronics mail -- that is, from electronics students or enthusiasts asking for advice. What strikes me again and again is that people who need to do electronic design want to know exactly which component to place where and why before they place it. My own secret to design success is a) to work in an intuitive "haze" without really thinking, and b) to do this with (often) "live" circuits in front of me. If that doesn't bear fruit, I stop and focus on the science -- then do a) and b) again. OBSERVATION: This not seldom leads to blow-outs -- my biggest blow-out having caused me thousands of rands (hundreds of dollars) worth of damage in a split second. Typically, if I have a design intuition, I'll buy several of the same components so that I won't be stopped if one blows out. Yesterday, as an example, I blew out a CMOS 4069 (R5 / $0.5o each).