Solderless Breadboards are the best way to prototype an electronics project. It is reusable, does not require any soldering, and is simple to use. With DIP components that fit perfectly into the breadboard, using simple jumper wires to create your circuits, you can make improvements and additions easily and quickly without reworking with your solder gun.

Breadboards have small holes for jumper wires and components to be plugged into. The image above and below show a typical breadboard and its configuration. Notice the two outside rails on each side of the breadbroad. On this particular breadboard these rails run down the board and are labeled as positive and negative. These are the power rails to connect your power source to and supply voltage to your components.

The two rows and columns in the center of the breadboard (labeled a - j divided by the centerline) are the areas for your workspace. With IC chips and microcontrollers that fit across the centerline, other jumper wires and components can connect to the same rows to use these pin connections to design your circuit. For example:

A simple LED connected to a breadboard with the positive side pushed directly into 3E and negative into 3F is valid. Remember that the columns do not connect across the centerline. Now a resistor connected to the left side positive rail and pin 3A, and a jumper wire from 3J to the negative rail on the right side completes a simple LED circuit.