Ben Heckendorn is a self-taught maker with high energy, an internet show on Element14 (The Ben Heck Show), and a wonderfully wicked sense of humor. He also inspired this issue of the magazine.

Circuit diagrams are maps used to design and build electronic devices. This article describes connections, components, history, and tools used to create circuit diagrams.

Here are links to projects, tutorials, parts, and online communities to help you get started with electronics projects for beginners.

Meet someone who used her love of electronics to create deeply fun and personal robots, gadgets, and other cool stuff.

Version control software captures an evolving snapshot of one set of code along with all changes in case older versions need to be retrieved.

How do programming languages know what to process? And in the correct order?

JSON, or JavaScript Object Notation, is an elegant way to organize data into key:value pairs and make web applications work like software.

Electronic breadboards are used to prototype electronic circuit designs and projects without messy solder or hot soldering irons.

Links from the bottom of all the March 2014 articles, collected in one place for you to print, share, or bookmark.

Node.js is a software platform to create fast, scalable web applications quickly. These applications also use JavaScript on the server and web browsers.

These databases are relatively new technology to store data in databases. Here are a few options to explore.

Interesting stories about computer science, software programming, and technology for the month of February 2014.