Peter Jack wrote:
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can the /oc pin of the 74ls373 latch be permanently connected to ground.

hi;
yes you can.this pin is typically made 1 when you want to tri-state the latch outputs.
when '373 is used as output latch without any sharing of output lines it can be safely connected to ground.on shared lines or when used for input application you shall need to
generate /oe signal from your decoder.
pranav