The caveat is that you need a proper AVR programmer to access ... load – flash the binary onto the chip (doesn’t work for me with the STM32F0Discovery board) monitor – send special commands ...

On the back side there’s just a few jumper wires and a couple of resistors, which ultimately lead to the FT232R FTDI board that actually connects the chip to the computer so you can program it.

A bare chip that is mounted directly onto the printed circuit board (PCB). After the wires are attached, a glob of epoxy or plastic is used to cover the chip and its connections. The tape ...