The modern version is a neat way to connect lots of parts and rapidly alter your design. It is essentially a slab of plastic punctured by tiny holes. The holes are electrical contacts.

Before opening the Arduino software, wire up the Arduino according to the circuits page using the 8MHz minimalist breadboard circuit but with a 10k pull-up resistor on the reset pin (physical pin 1).

The modern version is a neat way to connect lots of parts and rapidly alter your design. It is essentially a slab of plastic punctured by tiny holes. The holes are electrical contacts.