How do you see the Arduino Serial.print() output?

I realised that when I was trying to learn how to use the Arduino IDE, I could not readily find the output console to "see" the output from "Serial.print()" or "Serial.println()".

The following is a newbie guide:

1. Open the IDE -> Tools -> Serial Monitor.
2. Change the "Baud rate" setting to the same number in the code. E.g. "Serial.begin(115200);" means the baud rate is 115200.
3. After you switch to the correct baud rate, which is like tuning in to a radio channel on radio, you should see the output of the print command.

Good luck figuring this out!

How to connect an Arduino with an NFC shield?

One day, at a spur of the moment, I decided to buy an Arduino uno R3 and a dynamic NFC shield. I read a few websites that sang praises about the Arduino's capabilities and ease of use by hobbyists (who need not be electrical engineers) so I thought that it should be easy to connect, much like how you plug your monitor to your CPU or similar.

The packages arrived through mail and when I opened the box, I was clueless at how I should connect it. I read the "datasheet" and "schematics" documentation but could not understand how it could be called documentation -- it did not tell you step 1-2-3, do this, do that, etc.

The documentation is in the form of a link like that: Arduino Uno R3 schematic.

NFC shield schematic. The diagram shows that there are 2 LED lights. Those will light up when power is connected.

Editted on 16 Jan: It turned out that a Male-Female jumper wire (easily searchable from google) was require to connect the NFC shield with the Arduino. All 6 pins were connected and it functioned as a tag.

The NFC shield has 6 pins.

Pinout diagram that I referenced from blog.arduino.cc.

The same pinout diagram with the 6 pin holes highlighted.

Unfortunately, at this point, the example code I test-loaded on the board still did not work, so I am still figuring that out.

I wanted to write different URLs dynamically to a tag as an advertisement. At this rate of fumbling, I have no idea when that idea will see light.

[Updated on 5 Feb 15]: After writing on the supplier's facebook that the example code didn't work, and nobody replied to 4 of my emails sent over 2 months, a reply came within the day that the example code was wrong and I was provided with a working code.