Getting Started with Arduino, 2nd Edition

Appendix A. The Breadboard

The process of getting a circuit to work involves making lots of changes to it until it behaves properly; it’s a very fast, iterative process that’s something like an electronic equivalent to sketching. The design evolves in your hands as you try different combinations. For the best results, use a system that allows you to change the connections between components in the fastest, most practical, and least destructive way. These requirements clearly rule out soldering, which is a time-consuming procedure that puts components under stress every time you heat them up and cool them down.

The answer to this problem is a very practical device called the solderless breadboard. As you can see from Figure A-1, it’s a small plastic ...