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 CAD / Development / Organizations / LDraw / 1627
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Subject: 
Re: Proposal: New Parts Category for round parts
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw
Date: 
Thu, 10 Jan 2002 17:05:26 GMT
Viewed: 
1117 times
  
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Steve Bliss writes:
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Joshua Delahunty wrote:

In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Fredrik Glöckner writes:
Steve Bliss <partsref@yahoo.com> writes:

2637.DAT      Technic Tie-Rod 16L with Holes
2739.DAT      Technic Tie-Rod  6L Steering with Towball Sockets

I like it too, though I think "Towball socket" is a too-long way to
say "ball socket".

But 'towball socket' is the LDraw-ish term for that connection.  One of
the problems with associating these two parts is their end-connection
holes are different, and it's hard to tell that from the pictures.

What does associating the two parts have to do with using the term
"ball socket" over the longer "towball socket"?

There's the additional issue here of the two "standards" of ball-socket,
the original style (see the steam shovel bucket), and the TECHNIC standard.

How to determine if it's TRULY a Technic item though?

That's the problem.  And the answer/solution depends on your definition
of what it means to be "truly a Technic" piece.  When I use Technic as
an adjective, I usually mean anything that has Technic-style connections
- the peg or cross-axle holes.  For other people, Technic parts are
those parts that appear in Technic sets.  For others, Technic parts are
the parts 'produced' by the Technic design group.

It was a rhetorical question, Steve.  :-P

Thanks for taking the energy to bolster my point so eloquently.

Personally (and I'm apparently in the minority here), I want my part
names to work for me intuitively, and if I have to shift mindsets
"Hmm, let's see, I think this is something they'd call Technic, so
let me start there" rather than go with with it was initially
(I'm speaking more of the steering link than anything else), it's
a lot easier to remember where in the list it might be.

But everyone's intuition is different.  If I decided to reorganize the
LDraw library by the way I think of parts, there would be a cyber-riot.
That's the reason I never mentioned the idea of putting bricks-with-pins
in the Technic group before.  I figured it's my peculiarity, and most
people sort differently.

I'm not talking about "my way is best", "his way is best", I'm talking
about using terms that tell what the thing pretty much _is_ (steering
throw arm) over what it looks like "TECHNIC Axle, 6L, End Ball Sockets,
Slight Caps to Prevent Axle Penetration in Sockets, Nice Sheen when viewed
under UV number 67, etc."

The best example I can come up with (just popped into my head last night)...

I challenge someone to come up with a technical description of a given item,
that's very detailed, has lots of features, and is pretty tough to describe
in most ways I can think of, and make it AS intuitive or MORE intuitive than
what I'll probably FOREVER think of as its best description: "Roborider Head"
(or, for that matter, "Destroyer Droid Foot".

While I've pointed out the folly of using either term (which is more
intuitive to the most people?) but IMHO, EITHER is better than just about
any engineering description that can be come up with, considering all the
features of this part.  And I say that as a very strongly geeked-out
engineer.

First set I know of with the camel head (ONLY set I personally know of,
actually) was 4138...

There's a camel head in a current Creator set.  And the Dacta Zoo.  But
I get your point.

I later retracted that, thanks to peeron.

P.S. FWIW, I called this "lift arm" not because I'm a devotee to the name as
much as it was the LDRAW standard at the time...

Heheheheh.  The standard is right, because it is the standard.

I was just playing CYA (CMA) here, so I didn't have to defend use of the
term "lift arm", though that's pretty much what it is in the Tow Truck
set anyway.

     -- joshua



Message has 1 Reply:
  Re: Proposal: New Parts Category for round parts
 
Sorry this is so long. If you don't want to read the whole, at least scan to the end, and read the final paragraph! (...) Nothing. Following prior standards has to do with using 'towball socket'. Saving 3 characters seems less important to me than (...) (23 years ago, 11-Jan-02, to lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw)

Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Proposal: New Parts Category for round parts
 
(...) But 'towball socket' is the LDraw-ish term for that connection. One of the problems with associating these two parts is their end-connection holes are different, and it's hard to tell that from the pictures. (...) That's the problem. And the (...) (23 years ago, 10-Jan-02, to lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw)

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