Sketcher tutorial

A place to share learning material: written tutorials, videos, etc.
Forum rules
Be nice to others! Respect the FreeCAD code of conduct!
openBrain
Veteran
Posts: 9034
Joined: Fri Nov 09, 2018 5:38 pm
Contact:

Re: Sketcher tutorial

Post by openBrain »

chrisb wrote: Wed Mar 18, 2020 9:59 am I need some help for expressing things correctly in English. I use the abbreviation DOF for "Degrees of Freedom". Sometimes it is used in the singular form, e.g. "... there is one DOF left". Then the expansion would not be quite correct. Another possibility would be to use DOF for the singular and DOFs for the plural form.
Question: Which option is to be prefered: "DOF" everywhere or "DOF"+"DOFs"? (Or something completely different?)
Won't weigh in. Let the native english speakers tell us. ;) From a reader PoV, any is acceptable.
User avatar
Kunda1
Veteran
Posts: 13434
Joined: Thu Jan 05, 2017 9:03 pm

Re: Sketcher tutorial

Post by Kunda1 »

chrisb wrote: Wed Mar 18, 2020 9:59 am I need some help for expressing things correctly in English. I use the abbreviation DOF for "Degrees of Freedom". Sometimes it is used in the singular form, e.g. "... there is one DOF left". Then the expansion would not be quite correct. Another possibility would be to use DOF for the singular and DOFs for the plural form.
Question: Which option is to be prefered: "DOF" everywhere or "DOF"+"DOFs"? (Or something completely different?)
I think DOF can be used interchangeably in both singular and plural context. I've also seen people use 'DOFs' and that comes across as plural very naturally. I've also seen 1 DOF to imply singular and 6 DOF to imply plural

Edit: removed hyphen
Alone you go faster. Together we go farther
Please mark thread [Solved]
Want to contribute back to FC? Checkout:
'good first issues' | Open TODOs and FIXMEs | How to Help FreeCAD | How to report Bugs
User avatar
MSOlsen65
Posts: 226
Joined: Wed Feb 19, 2020 8:30 pm
Location: Winnipeg, MB Canada
Contact:

Re: Sketcher tutorial

Post by MSOlsen65 »

chrisb wrote: Wed Mar 18, 2020 9:59 am I need some help for expressing things correctly in English. I use the abbreviation DOF for "Degrees of Freedom". Sometimes it is used in the singular form, e.g. "... there is one DOF left". Then the expansion would not be quite correct. Another possibility would be to use DOF for the singular and DOFs for the plural form.
Question: Which option is to be prefered: "DOF" everywhere or "DOF"+"DOFs"? (Or something completely different?)

Sorry guys for bothering you, but I would like to see your input - and you have been helpful before :mrgreen:
For myself at least, no apology needed. I'm glad to help.

In US English, either way is acceptable. Traditionally, abbreviations were considered "dimensionless" (i.e. neither singular nor plural). The consideration of plurality is a relatively modern (start of electronic communications) phenomenon. If you choose to consider plurality, then the current convention would be DOF = singular and DOFs = plural. That said, a great many formal writing groups would still recommend using DOF is all cases.

Personally, I side with the formal groups about 85% of the time. I try to reserve the "added s" form for the rare times that I must be completely unambiguous about an abbreviation being plural. General English already uses many words, such as "deer" and "sheep" which are context dependent for their dimension; therefore, I see little advantage to the "added s" in abbreviations. In most of my writings I have found that is adds confusion to many non-native English speakers. For example, a French colleague once ask what the difference was because such plurals generally do not exist in French. When I explained, she replied with "Oh you silly American, how quaint." and we both had a good laugh.

All that to say either is perfectly acceptable, but I would simply use DOF throughout.

Hope that helps my friend, and again, thanks for asking.
Sincerely,


Michael S. Olsen
Electrical Engineer & Joiner
User avatar
MSOlsen65
Posts: 226
Joined: Wed Feb 19, 2020 8:30 pm
Location: Winnipeg, MB Canada
Contact:

Re: Sketcher tutorial

Post by MSOlsen65 »

openBrain wrote: Wed Mar 18, 2020 10:22 am Won't weigh in. Let the native english speakers tell us. ;) From a reader PoV, any is acceptable.
Well my friend, your English is exceptional. In fact, if you hadn't said otherwise, I would not have known English wasn't your native language. :)
Sincerely,


Michael S. Olsen
Electrical Engineer & Joiner
TheMarkster
Veteran
Posts: 5505
Joined: Thu Apr 05, 2018 1:53 am

Re: Sketcher tutorial

Post by TheMarkster »

chrisb wrote: Wed Mar 18, 2020 9:59 am I need some help for expressing things correctly in English. I use the abbreviation DOF for "Degrees of Freedom". Sometimes it is used in the singular form, e.g. "... there is one DOF left". Then the expansion would not be quite correct. Another possibility would be to use DOF for the singular and DOFs for the plural form.
Question: Which option is to be prefered: "DOF" everywhere or "DOF"+"DOFs"? (Or something completely different?)

Sorry guys for bothering you, but I would like to see your input - and you have been helpful before :mrgreen:
bejant wrote:ping
openBrain wrote:ping
MSOlsen65 wrote:ping
TheMarkster wrote:ping
Kunda1 wrote:ping
In baseball we have a stat called RBI (runs batted in). If a player has 2 runs batted in that is sometimes referred to as 2 RBI and sometimes 2 RBI's. Most people will say he had 2 RBI.
vocx
Veteran
Posts: 5197
Joined: Thu Oct 18, 2018 9:18 pm

Re: Sketcher tutorial

Post by vocx »

TheMarkster wrote: Wed Mar 18, 2020 4:34 pm In baseball we have a stat called RBI (runs batted in). If a player has 2 runs batted in that is sometimes referred to as 2 RBI and sometimes 2 RBI's. Most people will say he had 2 RBI.
Manuals of style indicate that acronyms should be pluralized just like normal words, by adding an S at the end, but no apostrophe.

So, RBI is pronounced "arr-bee-eye", so it should be pluralized RBIs, "arr-bee-eyes". However, this is not traditional done with many acronyms. So RBI can be used with both singular and plural meanings.

Adding the apostrophe is incorrect, except when talking about possessives. However, the Internet has distorted everything, and now people add apostrophe's like crazy, even to normal plural's. It is not uncommon to see many error's like these.

So, RBI's should not be correct.

It's GIFs, not GIF's. It's DOFs not DOF's. It's FAQs, not FAQ's.

You can add an apostrophe to a plural but only in one situation, when talking about single letters. So A's, B's, C's, is correct when talking about many single letters, "I got A's and B's in my tests".
Always add the important information to your posts if you need help. Also see Tutorials and Video tutorials.
To support the documentation effort, and code development, your donation is appreciated: liberapay.com/FreeCAD.
chrisb
Veteran
Posts: 53930
Joined: Tue Mar 17, 2015 9:14 am

Re: Sketcher tutorial

Post by chrisb »

Thank you very much, I will use DOF. I found another good reason to do so: In the meaning of "number of degrees of freedom" it is always singular :)

Finishing the new version will take another while, because the numbering of external references has changed in 0.19.
A Sketcher Lecture with in-depth information is available in English, auf Deutsch, en français, en español.
TheMarkster
Veteran
Posts: 5505
Joined: Thu Apr 05, 2018 1:53 am

Re: Sketcher tutorial

Post by TheMarkster »

I found this on the web:
Here’s the relevant portion of The [New York] Times’s stylebook entry:

Use apostrophes for plurals of abbreviations that have capital letters and periods: M.D.’s, C.P.A.’s. Also use apostrophes for plurals formed from single letters: He received A’s and B’s on his report card. Mind your p’s and q’s.

But do not use apostrophes for plurals of abbreviations without periods, or for plurals formed from figures: TVs, PCs, DVDs; 1990s, 747s, size 7s.
So, basically if the abbreviation is all CAPS *and* has periods, then use the apostrophe, otherwise don't. So, it should be DOFs or RBIs, I guess, based on that and on what vocx stated.

Edit: I meant to say *if* you are going to pluralize with an s, then do it without the apostrophe.
User avatar
MSOlsen65
Posts: 226
Joined: Wed Feb 19, 2020 8:30 pm
Location: Winnipeg, MB Canada
Contact:

Re: Sketcher tutorial

Post by MSOlsen65 »

chrisb wrote: Wed Mar 18, 2020 6:08 pm Thank you very much, I will use DOF. I found another good reason to do so: In the meaning of "number of degrees of freedom" it is always singular :)
Well done my friend! :D :D :D

Point if interest, while all acronyms are abbreviations, not all abbreviations are acronyms. In English, to be an acronym the first letter(s) of each major word (minus articles, prepositions, etc.) must form a pronouncible word. For example NASA is an acronym for the "National Aeronautics and Space Administration" and NABISCO for "National Biscuit Company"; while IBM is simply an abbreviation (International Business Machines) as it does not itself form a pronouncinble word.

It should also be noted that there are many "Manuals of Style" for English. Not all agree on the plurals of either abbreviations or acronyms. So your original question is a good one with the classic Enlish answer of "It depends..." :roll:

FMS, ITA TLA AMAP (For myself I try to avoid three letter abbreviations as much as possible). :mrgreen:
Sincerely,


Michael S. Olsen
Electrical Engineer & Joiner
chrisb
Veteran
Posts: 53930
Joined: Tue Mar 17, 2015 9:14 am

Sketcher tutorial new version is now Sketcher Lecture

Post by chrisb »

Dear Friends of FreeCAD, I finally did it. I have uploaded a new version of the formerly called Sketcher tutorial. I have renamed it to the more appropriate title "A Sketcher Lecture" but it is basically the same contents. But only basically: I have updated quite some details to 0.19 and I have included allmost all remarks of openBrain - which was a huge load - and MSOlsen65, which was a lot too. Thus it has slightly grown in size, although some sections could be shortened due to an improved workflow in 0.19.
Please tell me nevertheless if you find errors.

Edit: the old linkis no longer working, use https://owncloud.gwdg.de/index.php/s/eZ ... 9/download
A Sketcher Lecture with in-depth information is available in English, auf Deutsch, en français, en español.
Post Reply