We'll outline the basics of the Arduino itself, what the crazy jumble of wires means, and then step through how to use other people's code and schematics to build your first electronics project ...

Of course, knowing the basics of Arduino is only half the battle; if you want to get to the fun stuff you'll have to learn how to code it as well.

But what makes this project unique is that the custom GUI that controls the Arduino was written in the language that everyone loves to hate, Visual Basic.

The electronic design of the Basic Stamp is simple, yes, but there’s a method to the madness. The code you write for the Basic Stamp is stored in 256 bytes of the EEPROM.

Thankfully, Arduino forum member Romano d'Ezzelino has put together a series of reference cards that show the basics of a number of common connections.