Reddit reviews Fundamentals of Microelectronics

The book is pretty good for a highly theoretical treatment of the subject. I had S&S for two semesters and it went fine. However for the practical aspects of circuit design, you need something like Practical Electronics for Inventors.

Also, a pretty good book on microelectronics is Fundamentals of Microelectronics by Behzad Razavi

I've used Fundamentals of Microelectronics by Behzad Razavi and I thought it did a great job. I've also followed up with his book on analog CMOS IC design in more advanced courses. I unfortunately don't have any recommendations for comms textbooks.

As far as software goes, there are a few basics you should learn: matlab, a scripting language (python, perl, or tcl depending on where you go and what you do), and enough C programming to get by, or a lot of C programming if you go into embedded systems. You will also want to develop a familiarity with linux, especially when it comes to using ssh and a shell in general (shell scripting is a plus). People will argue left and right about matlab vs. numpy+scipy but realistically it's not hard to learn both, and as a student you likely have access to matlab through your school, so the cost is a non-issue. Matlab remains a de facto standard, and python is gaining popularity.

A lot of this stuff just sort of comes up incidentally in coursework, but I really think the linux fluency is something that is overlooked by many. Knowing how to use version control (learn git, everything else has feature parity or is simpler), knowing how to edit from a command line (it barely matters if it's vim, nano, or emacs, you just need to know how to open a file and make some changes without spending time trying to scp files around or googling how to use the editors, if you're in a hurry), and knowing how to perform basic tasks like renaming files or folders, which I've seen other grad students struggle with, are all pretty important. I've considered putting together some key points on this, along with software to understand how to use to improve your effectiveness, which I'd be willing to do up in the next week or so if there's interest.

Razavi -- Fundamentals of Microelectronics

http://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Microelectronics-Behzad-Razavi/dp/1118156323

Fundamental of microelectronics

I'd recommend between this book and Sedra & Smith's book. But, Razavi's book might be easier to understand.