Electronics All-in-One For Dummies, 3rd Edition

Chapter 6

Building Projects

IN THIS CHAPTER

Fleshing out an idea for an electronic project

Creating a workable circuit design

Building a prototype on a solderless breadboard

Creating a permanent circuit on a printed circuit board

Finishing the project by putting everything into a suitable enclosure

Yogi Berra is alleged to have said, “In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But in practice, there is.”

Much of this book is theoretical — how electric current works, how individual electronic components like resistors, capacitors, and transistors work, how digital logic works, and so on.

But the heart of electronics is building things. The reason for learning all the theory is so that you can practice the art by actually building circuits and putting them to use.

Throughout this book, I back up theoretical explanations about how various types of electronic components work with simple construction projects you can build to demonstrate the theory in actual use. In ...