alt Hacker NewsRobotic pick and place board assembly means through-hole components are going the way of the dodo. Sorry.
Adafruit sells breakout boards for various SMT packages so that with a little solder reflow work you can adapt that shiny new chip to your breadboard. https://www.adafruit.com/category/475
>pick and place board assembly means through-hole components are going the way of the dodo
The factories willing to do SMD mixed with through-hole high-power electronics is shrinking. However, package constrained power dissipation limits on SMD technology is real.
Depends on what your firm builds. =3