today, we get to learn about the msp430 as it relates to ADCs and DACs
yay!
the adc on the msp430 is 12 bit, not bad
dac is only 12 bit, but still, nice to have
need to use signal conditioning circuits to filter noise and scale signal to range of adc

lots of features, as listed on slides
block diagram with lots of crazy, MEMORIZE!
internal temp sensor and vcc can be read
Nadc = 4095*(Vin - Vr-)/(Vr+ - Vr-)
Vr is programmable upper and lower limits of conversion
adc control bits can only be modified when ENC=0, conversions only happen when ENC=1
internal adc clock is in 5mhz range, ref manual for specs
can div clock by 1,2,4,8 for different operation
four internal analog signals can be read along with the 8 external
parasitic current problem
built in vref generator, selectable to 1.5 or 2.5V, can be turned off to save power
ext ref through input pins (nice)
power down feature
different conversion modes: single channel, sequence, repeat single, repeat sequence
dac can be used as 12 bit or 8 bit

dac is opposite, as expected
if you want to gen a sine wave with certain characteristics like amplitude, period, etc