Electronics Glossary

Browse 7 electronics terms defined in plain English, from the cultural dictionary of computing.

7 Electronics Terms

Arduino: A popular open hardware and microcontroller platform widely used for learning electronics, prototyping, and hobbyist hardware projects. In tech culture Arduino...
Hardware Hacker: A person who experiments with, modifies, or builds physical computing systems such as circuit boards, embedded devices, keyboards, radios, or custom machines....
integrated circuit: A set of electronic circuits fabricated on a single piece of semiconductor material, combining transistors, resistors, and capacitors into one chip. The...
Nixie Tube: A cold-cathode display tube that shows numerals through glowing wire-shaped digits, widely used in mid-20th-century electronics before LEDs and LCDs took over....
PCB: Printed Circuit Board — a laminated board of insulating material with conductive copper traces etched onto its surface, used to mechanically support and...
transistor: A semiconductor device that acts as an electronic switch or amplifier, replacing the vacuum tube and enabling the miniaturization of all modern electronics....
vacuum tube: An electronic component that controls electric current flow through a vacuum in a sealed glass container, used as switches and amplifiers in the earliest...