kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Karl Schmidt <karl@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

In eeschema - library-editor/fields and properties - there is a 'footprint' field.

In PCBnew - the 'footprint' field is actually specifying a 'module'.

I think kicad should use one name ( I like footprint - it is the most descriptive ( at least in 
English), but I'm not fussy as long as the name can be consistent).

There are other names that have been used for this in other software: 'footprint', 'decals', 'land 
patterns', 'cell', 'model'

IPC standardized on land-pattern (which I don't like as it is not intuitive)

Programmatically, a module is more than a footprint - as it can point to other bits - 3D models, 
documentation etc - but using different names introduces needless confusion to beginning users.

I bring this up as I get quite a few questions about this via the kicad pages wiki at
http://wiki.xtronics.com

Probably the most common confusion of new users ..

I did address this at http://wiki.xtronics.com/index.php/EE_CAD_Terminology

but I still get questions..

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Karl Schmidt                                  EMail Karl@xxxxxxxxxxxx
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Truth is mighty and will prevail.
There is nothing wrong with this,
except that it ain't so.
--Mark Twain

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