What's a protoshield for?

[aaaxl]

I got the starter pack and built the protoshield, and it was fun to build. Now the dumb question. For a novice like me... can anyone tell me exactly what a prototyping board is for? I see that it's a convenient way to hook up a solderless breadboard, is that the main purpose?

I guess it also gives me a couple of ready LEDs and a button that I can use, if I solder in some wires, right? How about the capacitors, they are not for my use, right?

Thanks!
Alan

[halley]

Before the days of solderless breadboards, there were "normal" breadboards. You'd put components and wires through the little holes and solder things to those. The solderless variety is useful in the very early testing stages of an idea: you don't have to unsolder any components to make changes. Once you think you know what to attach, you might want to solder the idea in, to make it a bit more robust against damage. The step after that is to design your own printed circuit board, laying out where each pin connects with other pins.

[unwiredben]

I guess it also gives me a couple of ready LEDs and a button that I can use, if I solder in some wires, right? How about the capacitors, they are not for my use, right?

Yes, the buttons and LEDs are just there for hooking up easily. The LEDs already have a connection to ground and a current limiting resistor, so you don't need to add those, just connect to a digital output pin. The S1 button is for your own use, but the other button is tied to the reset line on the Arduino, as it's difficult to hit the button on the original board under the shield.

As for the caps; they're designed to filter the ground and 5V lines if you install those. This reduces the amount of noise that might otherwise be injected from other parts of the circuit and affect your circuit's operation.