How do they even work? I'm in senior high school year and have electronics as a subject. I'm really interested in getting to understand this and take up electronics in college too. But now this seems like a distant dream with my feeble understanding about 'how transistors work' and their 'actual applications in circuits'. I've read numerous guides online and after finishing them, I feel like I've learnt most of it but when I start studying about the TTL NOT gate (IC 7404) and a few others, (like 7402, 7400) which is part of my coursework, and which is based upon working of the transistors, I don't get anything! Sometimes the emitter is used as input, sometimes, it is used as output and I feel some of the sentences in the text (about the working of ICs) contradict what I learnt in other guides. I feel there's some gap remaining between, my understanding of transistors, and their applications in circuits, which is pissing me off and can't seem to see what it is.
Can anybody please point out some articles which would fill this gap and enlighten me?
Update: I'd like to learn about their working in application circuits. About the 'depth of understanding', I know what role electrons and holes play in working of transistor.