>> The entire reason I find digital circuits interesting is that it 
>> avoids the bewildering complexities of analogue design. ;-)
> 
> Sure, but you should least have a basic understanding of the properties 
> and characteristics of the transistors that you are using.  And 
> especially if you are trying to wire up LEDs you should also get a basic 
> understanding of simple LED circuits, ditto for switches and inputs.  
> It's not that hard and will make your life much easier when you start 
> wiring up actual logic chips to do useful things.

FWIW: I have owned a total of 3 different electronics kits as a kid. I 
have no difficulty wiring together arrangements of switches, LEDs, 
relays, and so forth. But all the manuals were a little vague on how 
transistors actually work.

(I'm actually pretty damned certain I had some 7400s, and I made useful 
circuits with them. But it was a long, long time ago now...)

Of course, when you buy a kit, somebody else has already figured out 
what kind of LEDs to put in there, and what resister you need to connect 
it to. I recall routinely using ICs to drive LEDs - but that was TTL, 
and now I'm looking at CMOS, which has different characteristics.

Anyway, we'll see what happens I guess.

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