The fact is I have no experience in coding but I'm interested in Arduino.
If it helps, I have no experience with clean circuit boards, LEDs, or anything else of that matter. This is an entirely new pond that I'm dipping my feet in.
I do, however, have a precision toolset because I tried to make my own multitouch device over at NUI but gave up midway because I never had enough money for a projector and because frustrated with soldering and LEDs. And threw away everything.
Yeah, impulsive move.
No: anyone who throws away partially-completed projects will never make it as an electronics hobbyist. ;D
Okay, seriously: you do need at least a little bit of coding talent to make stuff with Arduinos. There are some people who don't have it, but the fact that you're interested means you're probably not one of them.
It helps to have some coding experience when you're getting started, but, as CB pointed out, there are tutorials and examples you can use to acquire it. It just means it'll take you a little longer to get up to speed.
So it looks like your biggest problem is that lack of the scrounging and hoarding genes
It depends. If you have a goal in mind you want to reach, those obstacles can be surmounted and you'll succeed like most others here. However, if that focus misses, you'll just go on like before and yet another toy will land forgotten in the corner. In this case, you'd be better off to invest your money in more worthwhile pursuits, things you care about enough to spend time and effort on.
Please don't take this in a negative way, that's just how things work. Programming and electronics aren't easy subjects, just like playing an instrument or most sports aren't easy. One need to dedicate time and effort on them to succeed. If you're just looking for easy and quick thrills, better go shopping, to the movies or to church.
If you're unsure whether you care enough about learning those subjects, start out small so that in case it turns out not to be the thing for you, you didn't waste too much money on it.
Ran, I almost failed your test (throw away unfinished projects).
Having gotten a working proof-of-concept breadboard version, I simply abandoned my project on my bookshelf.
I think I'll be ready this time now that I know EAGLE, gone with all the soldering wire nightmare. ;D
seriously, throwing stuff away is no good. Most everything I have is ripped from old broken stuff. I had no coding experience in the last 15 years or so (did a little Qbasic in middle school, making text based games on school computers) and the amount I've learned in the past 3-4 weeks is incredible. It really just takes motivation and some dedication. It can be hard to force yourself to do a lesson you really dont care about, but every time you do, you retain a little bit more. Working through ALL the examples really helps. Also, if you phrase your question "correctly" there are usually a ton of people who will provide useful answers. Thats been one of the biggest helps for me. Be warned that if you just throw out a vague question without many details and constraints, you wont really get good answers unless its in the Frequently Asked Questions section. Its just something you put up with when dealing with real engineers ;D
Others are talking to you about code... but lets talk hardware...
I'm tossing a random number out hear but I would guess that there are quite a large number of us here that look at abandoned electronic devices as sources of new toys to play with. Am I the only one?
Are many of us PC Board recyclers? I think so...
So my belief is that a part needs to be really... I mean REALLY dead before I toss it out.
While making PC boards yourself is quite possible and rewarding... you should also teach yourself to solder well. Buy a good soldering iron (maybe not so expensive... just not the cheapest) and practice. You are just not going to escape needing to solder if you plan on taking anything beyond "breadboard" stage.
My advice about code. Tackle ALL software problems in small bites and then assemble your many small "solutions" together to get your results. Read other peoples code. When you don't understand... stop and figure out why you don't understand it (research it) before moving on to the next thing...
A few months ago, I didn't know de-soldering irons existed, solder wick existed, and I never took any parts off a PCB before, and I didn't know the difference between a few common solder tips and didn't know how to solder PCBs, let alone designing one. Now I know. I also have collected a few 40x2 LCDs and other parts from PCBs I bought. I feel like if I put my mind to learning mode, I can still do it. I thank the forum and the members for all the help they gave me. I think pwillard and I may have similar bins of parts that are possibly not dead. I just have to keep them and until tested dead I'll not just toss them. I've since reused some LEDs and resistors of my abandoned project in a persistence of vision project.
Well, I was 12 when I wanted to make a website. I really wanted it. I started learning HTML (I found something online but it was very old, it was about HTML 4, with frames and suchlike). I started messing around with WYSIWYG, untill I read they produce crappy code. Then I started learning HTML 4.01 and met serversided languages. I wanted to learn PHP. It was very hard for me. Now, 1.5 years later, I'm very good at it.
I met Arduino, I immediately wanted one. C was not that hard for me as I knew PHP (the syntax is very similar). I started tinkering around, bought an Ehternet shield. The thing didn't work for me at first, but after much reading I found the solution and then I made an IRC bot.
The only thing I want to tell you:
Motivation is all. You can do it all if you want to. The start is hard, but as you gain experience things will go easier and easier untill you reach the point you thought you would never come. If you're now dreaming of learning Arduino, learning the language will be the hard part, but I won't be surprised if you would make a LED cube or so within a month.
;D