The last components we will need are cables and breadboards. The most convenient cables have Dupont connectors. Dupont female connectors can be inserted on the pins on the boards, or in the breakout circuits, while male connectors can be inserted on breadboards.

We will be using female-to-female Dupont connectors most of the time, but some male-to-female ones will be useful to connect to a common power source or ground.

When we are making prototype circuits, we usually do them on breadboards. Each column of a breadboard is connected, and so are the top and bottom rows (which are generally used for Vcc and ground)

If you have some LEDs, buttons, and resistors, you can make use of them, but, in any case, we will keep wiring on breadboards to a minimum. Some interesting components that you can use are variable resistors, such as potentiometers, light resistors, and thermistors.

There are several starter packs typically designed for Arduino that combine most of these components and they are always handy to have around.

Finally, you can get your hands on a multimeter. We won't need one for the examples in this book, but it will be very useful if you plan to get more hands-on with electronics.