But it just boggles the mind that you can’t wrap your head around the idea that beginners use breadboards to quickly lash up simple circuits, starting with things like LEDs and 555 timers, then op amps and such, and then maybe some logic ICs or a simple MCU. Nothing complex, nothing particularly demanding. For quickly experimenting, it’s a great solution that allows for quick learning by doing.
The other
major advantage, especially for the beginner who doesn't have a whole horde of parts and components, is it allows easy experimentation using the same components over and over again until they go into a permanent project. The idea of using things like ICs over and over again by soldering and desoldering them, especially for a beginner seems like lunacy.
Being able to unplug a few chips and re-use them multiple times without getting solder on the pins or frying them from excessive solder heat seems like a good idea. It certainly always has been for me1
As for being annoying to transfer to a more permanent form after building a working prototype on a breadboard, I've actually always found it very easy to transfer a working breadboard design onto inexpensive proto-boards that use the same type of layout, like these:
I've used hundreds of those things and like to keep about a dozen on hand at any time for many different kinds of projects and one-offs. A beginner can relatively easily build something up on breadboard, then once your circuit works properly, you can basically just copy (when you have extras of simple things like resistors, etc) or transfer it piece by piece to the proto-board and solder it up.
Using sockets for where ICs are on your prototype and then building the wiring around it, soldering in any passives, etc. then popping the chips out of your working breadboard prototype and sticking them into your soldered prototype allows you to go back and forth for experimentation if you wish to modify your design or something, retaining the breadboard version in essentially working form, at least until you have the soldered version working to your satisfaction.
This was extremely useful, especially back in the days of building "large" digital circuits with 7400 or CMOS logic when we didn't all have a zillion extras of every chip, (especially since they often weren't cheap!) so we couldn't just use
another one, we
had to move the few components we had from the breadboard phase to the soldered prototype / final project.
While the components may be less expensive today, most beginners still don't have a giant parts stash from which to draw endless parts. Being able to
easily re-use the same components over and over is a big bonus, especially for the beginner. (Or, at least it certainly was for me! YMMV)