This may be a really simplistic question, but here goes: I've now worked with the ESP-12E a bit, and thanks to very very much help from this forum I've gotten, I think, a generally OK feel for what needs to be done to "make it work" in terms of pulling certain pins up/down vs leaving them "floating", etc.
I'm curious though, about the ESP-01. At the heart of it, it's still an ESP8266 (is it proper to say that? Is it the ESP8266 "platform"? What the hell is a esp8266?! ), but the exposed pins are obviously much different/fewer. Which leads me to wonder, are all of the "pins" that should be pulled up/down/etc in the ESP-12E somehow handled "internally"?
Also, in general, is one form factor (ESP-12E vs ESP-12 vs ESP-01 vs ESP-07) considered to be more "robust" - basically less prone to errors of whatever variety?
edit: to add to this, part of the reason I'm asking is that I'm thinking about making a simple, single button "IFTTT" machine. Now that i've worked with the ESP-12E quite a bit and have a good idea of parts/etc in Eagle for PCB design, etc, I'm tempted to use that. On the other hang, it seems like the ESP-01 is really simple and requires many fewer pull ups/pull downs. But because I don't "see" everything, it also seems like it might be less robust, more like a toy then the ESP-12E. Again, this is just a feeling, obviously not based in fact, hence this post