What is an Electronics Databook?

Question

EDIT: Tag suggestions appreciated; I'm not familiar with this site's tags, and "Book" and "Datasheet" were the only ones I could find... No "Beginner."

So I'm reading through the Tab Electronics Guide to Understanding Electricity and Electronics, and I'm litterally at the first few pages of the introduction and he mentions electronics databooks.

The author describes them as such:

The manufacturers and distributors of electronic components publish data books, containing cross-referencing infromation and individual component specifications. A few examples of such books are NTE Semiconductors, The GE Semiconductor Replacement Guide, and SK Replacement Cross-Reference Dictionary.

Your first project in the field of electronics is to obtain all all of the electronics data books that you can get your hands on ... They are that essential.

After reading the whole section on this (about ~3 pages), I still don't really understand what they are, and why / if I need them.

Also, this book has a 2000 copyright... has anything changed (e.g., have these things gotten digitized and become free?)

I am at the very beginning of electronics, thanks.

Answer 1

A databook is a collection of datasheets, in printed book form, from a single manufacturer. Sometimes manufacturers would include application notes or white papers in the databook as well.

Back in "the day", engineers would have a large library of databooks. Around 1997 my library was made from six 6-foot bookshelves completely full of databooks-- that used all the wall space in the employee break room. Around the same time, manufacturer representatives and field-sales people from distributors would drive from customer to customer with their trunk full of databooks.

This was before the Internet was useful, and PDF's were commonplace. Databooks have been mostly obsoleted now, to the delight of field sales people and employees taking breaks everywhere.

Cookbooks are entirely different. They were almost always published by third parties, not the chip manufacturers themselves, and thus were mostly manufacturer agnostic. Cookbooks were more like application notes, while datasheets were more about formally documenting the manufacturers specifications.

Answer 2

First there was print. Databooks were the bibles in component information. Have the audio databook on your desk and you conquer the world. Before the Internet era I worked at Philips Audio, and just the Philips databooks was a 2m pile. Very awkward if you needed the book at the bottom :-). Then there were the databooks from the other manufacturers, and you needed several sets, so you ended up with a library with several hundreds of databooks.

But databooks are impractical, not only because of the place they take. They needed updating with new products, and as a small customer you had to buy the new version every so often, or the manufacturer had to ship tens of thousands free to their big customers.

Then there were CD-ROMs. You can get your complete collection of datasheets on a couple of CD-ROMs, they're virtually free so you can have a set for each design engineer, and publish a new version twice a year. And PDFs are searchable! Much better already.

Not good enough! Your sales engineer comes along to present a new product, and you want the datasheet, preferably by yesterday. The next CD-ROM isn't due before November, so you would get a leaflet (for a diode) or a book (for a microcontroller).

With the Internet databooks and printed datasheets are things of the past. You can get the datasheet on the manufacturer's website the day it's published, and you can subscribe to newsletters which inform you of any new information.

While the manufacturer's website seems the logical choice for information (you can't get more up-to-date than that) I often use Digikey as a starting point. That's because I need a component for a specific function, and I want to see what exists. At that moment I don't care about the manufacturer yet. Digikey (or Mouser, or...) will let you compare different manufacturers, and they link to the datasheet on the manufacturer's site too.

Answer 3

Notice that the book, which O.P. is quoting, dates back to year 2000.

Databook is a collection of datasheets printed and distributed as a physical book. A databook usually covers a family of devices. However, datasheets are published in PDF online these days. Databooks predate internet and PDF datasheets. I think, they are obsolete now.

Answer 4

Here is an example

It sounds like the author is referring to what are sometimes called Cookbooks. This of these like encyclopedias of semiconductor components and IC's. For example, if you had a TTL cookbook, it would list every TTL chip. Most of the time, chips from different manufacturers carry the same number. Such as a 74LS00 could be made by anyone, its still a 74LS00. The cookbook will tell you electrical specifications, pin assignments and truth tables (if they apply). They are not required by any means, as you can find these same specs online. They are just easier sometimes. And some EE's like to have books to reference.

Some manufacturers come out with their own specific books also.

For regular TTL or CMOS IC's, cookbooks are great. However keep in mind for newer IC's or for MCU's, its usualy (always) better to go to the net and get the latest cutsheet.

They are very very handy, save me alot of time hunting the internet looking for data sheets.