Page 20 - Bebop to The Boolean Boogie An Unconventional Guide to Electronics Fundamentals, Components, and Processes
P. 20
Analog Versus Digital
It was a dark and stormy night. . .
always wanted to start a book this
way, and this is as good a time as
any, but we digress. . . phrase "It was a dark and stormy
ight . . ." is actually the opening
Now sit up and pay attention sentence to an 1830 book by the
because this bit is important. British author Edward George
Electronic engineers split their ulwer-Lytton. A legend in his
world into two views called analog own lunchtime, Bulwer-Lytton
and digital, and it's necessary to became renowned for penning
exceptionally bad prose, of which
understand the difference between
he opening to his book Paul
these views to make much sense out
...,, "," as. .I.= J."..U".U .". "...=.a
of the rest of this book.' to foll low. For your delectation and
A digital quantity is one that deligt Bt, the complete opening
can be represented as being in one nce was: I' It was a dark and
..--. . C... -
of a finite number of states, such as nignr; re rain reit in rorrenrs-
0 and 1, ON and OFF, UP and DOWN, cept at occasional intervals, when
t was ChpL'lrSrl kv n uhlont nmct nf
and so on. As an example of a cncu Y, u I.V.Z... vu-. V.
:h swept up the streets (for
simple digital system, consider a
rdon that our scene lies),
light switch in a house. When the long the housetops, and
1. ..
L d ____
switch is UP, the light is ON, and rcely agrraring me scunry rrume or
-
r.
when the switch is DOWN, the light the lamps : that struggled against the
is OFF.^ By comparison, a light darkness.' " Where else are you going
controlled by a dimmer switch to go to I learn nuggets of trivia like
provides an example of a simple you can see, this isn't your
electronics book!
analog system.
1 In England, "analog" is spelled "analogue" (and pronounced with a really cool accent).
2 At least, that's the way they work in America. It's the opposite way round in England, and
you take your chances in the rest of the world.
