Which is better?

[compilerbitch]

This:



or this:



In both cases, the unfamiliar symbol represents a delay. I use a Greek delta (Δ) to represent transmission line delay, and a square to represent inertial delay in equations, so I want matching circuit symbols. There aren't really any nice standard symbols, other than some quite yucky ones from the async literature that I don't really want to use for aesthetic reasons. I won't say which one I prefer, because I'd rather hear an unbiassed opinion from you lot.

[Poll #417272]

Comments

[beckyc.livejournal.com]

The one in the rectangle looks more like the concept of a component. Which may be a good thing or a bad thing. But it could be an abstract concept of a component representing something that causes a delay, no matter what the implementation of it would be.

[feyeleanor.livejournal.com]

Yes, putting the delta inside the box definitely gives the impression of a component of which the delta is a function, whereas just putting the deltas in without the bounding boxes makes it look like the delta is an actual component.

I'm sure I remember seeing a triangle used that way in a course on control systems but that was in 1990 and I can't remember anything useful because the lecturer had the stupidest way of talking about diagrams whilst facing away from the OHP so he'd nearly always be pointing to the wrong components...

Anyway, I also liked the idea expressed earlier of making the deltas look a little more delta-like than bare triangles. I'd be tempted to go one step further and explicitly use delta-t notation, but that may be a little to much like physics and not enough like EE.