CAD and FPGA programs have "pin planners", not "leg planners." Reports count pins used, not legs used. Datasheets never refer to "transistor legs." Maybe you can find counter-cases. Please do so.
PADS refers to hidden nodes on an IC (like Vcc and GND) as "signal pins" which is a little weird, but not as weird as "signal legs" would be.
We tend to not hide any pins when we create parts. When everything used +5 and ground, it was reasonable to hide them. Nowadays, with a dozen power rails on a board, hidden pins cause mistakes.
What PCB CAD software do you use? Does it refer to "legs" ?
This from a guy who claims to have been around the industry for decades.
Sure, pins is the term now. In the days of two and three 'legged' devices, however, it was used, and especially as the J-lead and L frame SMD packages began to hit the industry.
There are also devices configured in banks where the discreet element interconnects are referred to as "legs".
I can remember more than a few TV repairs where the transistor that went in was configured to be soldered on top of the old pads instead of trying to get wetting on a cheap TH PCB, much less the worry about the lead length. The bent LEGS insured that no such problem would exist.
The term was most certainly in use by the entire industry and was by no means an "amateur" or "lay person" term.
So f*ck off, Larkin. You are a goddamned loser and nothing more.
The term is used in several segments of the industry. It is used in power distribution and MATV and CATV system distribution nomenclature. Years ago, it was used in describing elements of components and transducers, even as small as a transistor.
You are a trivial pain in the ass, john... A slight itch, but what you are mainly is WRONG, as usual.
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Snipped some 300 lines of garbage posted for confusing the issue of
having to admit to the fact that if someone wants to call transistor
leads "legs" in a USENET post it's OK.
Usage seems to be "pin" when they are numbered, namely one of several nodes on a part. Connectors don't have leads but they do have pins. A terminal coming out of a TO92 transistor is commonly referred to as a lead, because it's a piece of wire. But we'd call it "pin 1" or "the emitter lead." In a CAD program, that lead would be called a pin.
They are just words, and don't matter much. But calling them "legs" is unusual, specifically used by amateurs.
I doubt that you refer to transistor connections as "legs." Do you?
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John Larkin Highland Technology Inc
www.highlandtechnology.com jlarkin at highlandtechnology dot com
Precision electronic instrumentation
Picosecond-resolution Digital Delay and Pulse generators
Custom timing and laser controllers
Photonics and fiberoptic TTL data links
VME analog, thermocouple, LVDT, synchro, tachometer
Multichannel arbitrary waveform generators
Of course not. The engineering community evolves its insider nomenclature. It's unofficial but it's important. Using the inappropriate terminology in a proposal or a presentation costs credibility. Sprinkling them with the right mix of buzzwords adds credibility. That's the way it is.
If I'm proposing a synchro interface, or an optical thing, or some cryogenic gadget, I research the field to make sure my terminology sounds professional to my expected audience. You can argue that it shouldn't matter, but it does.
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John Larkin Highland Technology Inc
www.highlandtechnology.com jlarkin at highlandtechnology dot com
Precision electronic instrumentation
Picosecond-resolution Digital Delay and Pulse generators
Custom timing and laser controllers
Photonics and fiberoptic TTL data links
VME analog, thermocouple, LVDT, synchro, tachometer
Multichannel arbitrary waveform generators
Of course it's OK. Call them appendages if you like. But the term isn't used in the professional EE community, and you identify yourself as an amateur if you call a transistor lead a "leg." If that's OK with you, go for it.
Do you call TO92 terminals "legs"?
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John Larkin Highland Technology Inc
www.highlandtechnology.com jlarkin at highlandtechnology dot com
Precision electronic instrumentation
Picosecond-resolution Digital Delay and Pulse generators
Custom timing and laser controllers
Photonics and fiberoptic TTL data links
VME analog, thermocouple, LVDT, synchro, tachometer
Multichannel arbitrary waveform generators
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