[readingnews]

"I keep coming back to this topic for two reasons. First, I think these components are usually explained poorly, making them a major stumbling block for folks trying to learn the craft. Second, op-amps have gotten really good, inexpensive, and small, so I think they should be used more."

No offense, but these are words typically spoken by someone who has never taken any electrical engineering courses or read any of Walter Jungs books, after having some electronics background.

"gotten really good"? Really, like in the 1970s?? (the 741, still widely used today was released in 1968). I recall in the 1980s in the electronics that were once completely discrete, they were _everywhere_ and still are today.

[rcxdude]

to be fair, the 741 is not a particularly good op-amp nowadays. It's used mainly through sheer inertia.

[viraptor]

I think you're doing a https://xkcd.com/2501/

I've done a few EE courses across two countries on the path to masters. The opamps were used at most for small signal processing in those. No more creative uses like frequency/capacitance multipliers. Comparing notes with friends in other unis, it wasn't that different there. You'd have to go into degrees much more focused on electonics to go to that level.

[laughing_man]

Everybody uses the 741's pin-outs, but nobody should be using the actual 741 for new designs. And that's been true for many decades.

[kilobaud]

Eh there are also decades worth of audio electronics designs which use the 741 and the decision of which actual part to use is often an aesthetic one. (i.e., assuming all other parameters are compatible then just use your ears). There are always new (hobbyist) designs being drafted around specific parts that are otherwise obsolete simply due to the musical character of certain parts