kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Andy Peters <devel@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Oct 8, 2014, at 5:08 AM, Mark Roszko <mark.roszko@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> I use footprint myself.  Though footprint seems to imply what a PCB
>> must have in order to accommodate a part, eg, pads, silk.  Are the 3d
>> models part of this?  If they are, then footprint might not be the
>> best term.
>> I agree with this. What you want to rename "Footprint" is more or less a container unifying different PCB objects (pads, lines, 3d model...), but may not be a footprint (logos, mounting holes, screws...)
> 
> Personally I think "Components" may be an even better word than
> "modules" or "footprints" but suggesting that may have been even more
> radical and conflicting agaisn't the next point

My two cents, based on the terminology used by every employer for whom I've worked: 

a) A footprint is what defines how a part gets attached to a PCB. It includes the pad/holes for lead attach, as well as silkscreen for refdes and outline, and the other assembly layers such as soldermask, solder paste and glue dots. "Land patterns" really only describe the lead attach, and not the other stuff.

I think Pads calls this a "decal." The only context I've seen the term "module" refer to a PCB footprint is in Kicad.

"Footprint" is the term used by most of us here in the colonies.

b) A symbol is what defines a part for a schematic.

c) A component is the marriage of the footprint and the symbol, and possibly a 3D model, a SPICE model, a VHDL entity or Verilog module, and so forth. This is the Altium nomenclature.

d) A module is a completed assembly or subassembly which is installed as one unit on a PCBA. The various DC-DC converters you can buy from TI and Linear Tech are modules.

So my vote, if there's a move to change Kicad terminology, is to replace the term "module" with "footprint." 

-a