A rectangular plastic board containing an internal grid of metal spring clips, used to quickly build and test circuit prototypes. Components and jumper wires are pushed into the holes to form electrical connections. Because no soldering is involved, parts can be easily swapped, removed, and reused during the design phase.
Heard on the job
Grab a breadboard and throw together a quick 555 timer circuit so we can test the LED blink rate.
Insider tip
The internal metal strips usually run horizontally in the main component area to connect parts, and vertically along the edges to distribute power and ground.
Also heard as
- protoboard
- solderless breadboard