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That perfboard looks handy, but I find stripboard, e.g. Veroboard, or cheaper copies, easier to use.

Though there is the added expense of a track-cutter.

I still prefer to start with a re-usable socketed breadboard until I’m happy with the circuit design, and only then transfer it to a permanent soldered version.

For perfboard I like to use wire-wrap wire, but again you need a few tools, at least an insulation stripper, some needle nose pliers and a side cutter. Better still a wrap/unwrap tool to twist it around the leads of the components before soldering.

No, this is not really wirewrap, where an engineered square pin with sharp corners is used without solder, it’s just a hybrid way of quickly wiring then soldering things up, that works nicely IME.

A big illuminated magnifying glass on a stand also helps.

The wire-wrap wire is very easy to work with, the insulation very resistant to heat/botched soldering, and being silver plated, solderability is excellent.

As Flashy Mike has shown, building a development setup can be simple and inexpensive, whichever way you do it. I have two of the FastTech USBasps which work well, I didn’t realise that they also sold Atinys already mounted on 0.1” leads, I’d better have another look.