Stepper motors are a type of brushless DC motor that can be controlled so that they advance a fixed step size. Additionally, they provide a strong holding torque. This can make them useful in applications where you want to rotate the motor precisely without employing encoders. When prototyping, I like to use development boards that can be transferred to a custom PCB easily. This gives me a clear path if I want to move the design from the Protoboard to something more polished.