Electronic Circuits Are Made Of Electronic Parts

Download a pdf copy of this excellent soldering comic from mightyohm.com

When I was about ten years old and just getting interested in electronics, I remember my dad saying to me "why don't you just get a bunch of components, wire them up and and see what happens".

My dad meant well and he encouraged me all the way but I realized then that I was on my own as far as the business of getting circuits to work was concerned. I already knew only too well that if I wanted to build something that actually did something then I would have to connect all the right components up in the right way.

Printed circuit boards are great. They are easy to wire up and they look great. They aren't very easy to make modifications on though and it can get expensive or time consuming if you just need one board for a custom design. It's often faster and cheaper to build little circuits on prototyping board that has a matrix of holes connected with copper strips.

Don't worry. The circuits that I build never work first time either!