Difference Between chip, module and development board

 1. From the shape.

1.1 Chip

Yes, this small black silicon chip is the "chip" itself (usually smaller than a thumb, integrated inside the hardware integrated circuits to achieve specific functions).

1.2 Module

The module developed from the above chip looks like this.

 

From the appearance, the module is much brighter than the chip (at least, you can see the copper foil, the pins), and that black ESP32 chip is inside him.

1.3 Development board

The development board developed by the above module looks like this.

Yes, the part marked ESP-WROOM-32 on the development board is the "module" above. The development board is much more luxurious than the "module" (finally, there are buttons, USB ports, and LEDs), do you want to write a program to light up the LEDs immediately?

2. Development Mode

Want to light up LED lights? Wait! Let's talk about how to burn the program into the chip, module, and development board.

First of all, it is difficult to directly burn the program to the black "chip", imagine, he does not even have the copper foil pins to connect the wires, how to connect the wires to the power supply, how to download the program? Yes, we can not directly to the chip for software development.

At present, there are two main modes of development for ESP32: module mode and development board mode

2.1 Module method.

Hardware needed: a module + USB to serial cable + Dupont cable + soldering tools

Physical connection.

2.2 Development board mode.

Hardware needed: development board + a USB cable

Physical connection.

See, isn't the development board mode more convenient for development? No need to solder yourself, you can connect the development board with USB cable to realize plug and play and start the development journey.