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From: Kai-Martin Knaak <knaak AT iqo DOT uni-hannover DOT de>
Subject: Re: [geda-user] pcb_fprintf mixes mm and mils for same output object
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2016 03:56:02 +0100
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DJ Delorie wrote:

>> Mixing metric and imperial introduces an unnecessary opportunity for
>> error.
> 
> Welcome to the EDA world, where half the parts are spec'd in metric,
> and the other half are spec'd in imperial.

Imperial sizes are a legacy from back when the USA dominated the world of 
electronics. However, the focus already started to shift in the 1970s with 
Japan taking the flag. No later than the early nineties electronic 
hardware was firmly in the hands of Asian based companies. After Japan the 
world of EDA saw the rise of South Korea, Taiwan and China. Consequently, 
since about 35 years new lines of products are almost exclusively metric.

The 0.127 mm pitch of the first wave of SMD ICs was about the last widely 
accepted imperial standard. 
 

> Combine that with users
> who rampantly argue for "user understandable file formats" and you get
> the compromise we chose.

In my humble opinion mixing metric with imperial is not a a compromise but 
worse than strictly sticking to imperial. 

---<)kaimartin(>---
-- 
Kai-Martin Knaak                                  tel: +49-511-762-2895
Universität Hannover, Inst. für Quantenoptik      fax: +49-511-762-2211	
Welfengarten 1, 30167 Hannover           http://www.iqo.uni-hannover.de
GPG key:    http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?search=Knaak+kmk&op=get