Schematic diagrams

While the Fritzing diagrams used images to represent the circuit, schematic diagrams use symbols. This allows for a more compact diagram, which makes it easier to represent complex circuits. The following diagram shows the symbols for some of the more common electronic components in a schematic diagram:

We would use these symbols to represent the components in a circuit. To see what a schematic diagram would look like, let's create a simple circuit that contained a battery, resistor and LED. The Fritzing diagram for this circuit would look like this:

In this diagram, it is easy to see what components are needed and how they are connected; however, in more complex circuits it can be harder to see how everything is connected. The image from the Fritzing diagram also doesn't show the value of the components. A schematic diagram offers a much clearer view of the circuit and if the author of the diagram chooses to, show the values of each component. The following diagram shows the same circuit in a schematic diagram:

This diagram shows us how the components are connected and all the values of the components. We will be using both Fritzing diagrams and schematic diagrams throughout this book, so we can get familiar with both kinds. Both types of diagrams will be generated from the Fritzing sketches that comes with the downloadable code for this book.