A free USB Type-C guide for engineers landed on Hacker News this week, published by chip maker Texas Instruments as a downloadable ebook (slyy228.pdf). The headline story is "here's another USB-C explainer." The story I care about is different: for a hardware engineer or electronics student in Sri Lanka, a vendor's free application guide is often better value than any textbook you can buy locally.
I want to make that case, then give you the USB-C facts worth knowing so the download is actually useful.
An imported hardware textbook in Colombo can cost more than a week's groceries, and it went to print before the current spec existed. A chip vendor's application guide is free, current, and written by the people who make the silicon you will actually solder onto a board.
The trade-off is real, so be honest about it:
Factor
