Nothing is as fast and fun as prototyping on a breadboard, but at some point you will find that the chips you want to work with are only available in non-breadboard-friendly SMT/SMD (Surface Mount Technology/Surface Mount Device). Unlike most DIP chips and resistors, SMT parts do not have the leads going through holes in the PCB. Instead, they 'float' on top, with often-rectangular solder pads.

Although you may one day decide to use CAD software for laying out a custom PCB for these parts, you can do yourself a favor and prototype with SMT breakout/adapter PCBs. In this mini tutorial we'll go over how to use these. It's not hard, once you have the experience!