DVDdoug:
P.S.Forgive my dumb question, but I'm just starting to mess around with Arduinos and building a circuit using them...
So based upon my very limited understanding of how an electric circuit works...
This stuff is complicated... As a hobbyst you want to jump into electronics and start doing fun stuff right away, and that's cool. But as a point-of reference, if you were taking Electronic Engineering at a university, you probably wouldn't get around do learning about microcontrollers 'till your 3rd or 4th year! You'd be learning a bunch of basic-boring stuff first. As a hobbyist, you need to learn some of the basics, but you can learn a little at a time as you go-along, and as you need to know it.
There's no need to talk down to me, Doug. XD Just because I'm not familiar with a concept doesn't mean I won't grasp it once it's been presented to me. And I'm quite aware of what 1s and 0s are, thanks. LOL I carved them by hand on my Commodore 64!