Oh, the shark, babe, has such teeth,
dear
And it shows them pearly white
Just a jackknife has old MacHeath, babe
And he keeps it, ah, out of sight
Ya know when that shark bites with his teeth, babe
Scarlet billows start to spread
Fancy gloves, oh, wears old MacHeath, babe
So there's never, never a trace of red
Theme from A Threepenny Opera
The
reason that a creative design engineer decided to embed this little silicon
shark in a remote corner of the Analog Devices AD1939 high-performance codec is a mystery.
But, while the origins of this splendid piece of micro-graffiti remain an
enigma, the device's raison d'être of its host device is not. Armed
with four high-precision sigma-delta ADCs and eight DACs, the AD1939 is
designed to sink its teeth into automotive audio, home theater and set-top
box applications.
Perhaps our finny friend is a shout-out to ADI's family of SHARC, high-performance DSPs, or perhaps it's
some sort of in-joke amongst the design team which we'll never understand.
If you have any insights on this, or any other member of our itty-bitty
bestiary, please share them with us at lhg@engenius.net.