Hi. I think I'm pretty self-motivated to figure things out myself with my own tinkering, but in this case I guess I gotta buy some hardware to learn about Arduino, but I cannot get past the terminology in the catalogs. Some of the items I see in online catalogs mention "shield". I don't know if this were an electromagnetic shield, or a fully programmable chip thingy, or what. Some things in catalogs are obviously not merely a shield, but a "microcontroller board". I can grasp what that is. But "shield" baffles me, at least its use in catalogs.
It's an add-on board that usually plugs directly on top of a standard Arduino. They can have anything from Ethernet ports, SD card slots, GPS modules, etc. etc. etc.
its an arduino only term. Its a pcb that plugs directly ontop of the arduino. It has pins on the bottom.
There are all different types to do different things. ethernet, relays, leds etc. Basically whatever you dreamup you can make into a sheild and sell or use without 1000 wires all over the place.
For the record, I did try a google search of define: shield, and it did not result in any clarification. I did not know it was an Arduino-only term, so that is why I asked.