So recently I bought some 0603 SMT resistors. They're .06" x .03" (that's ~1.5mm x .8mm for you metric users).
AND THE VALUE WAS PRINTED ON IT!
If manufacturers can print text on something that's only three hundredths of an inch tall, why the devil are we still using color codes on through-hole resistors?
-j
kg4wsv:
So recently I bought some 0603 SMT resistors. They're .06" x .03" (that's ~1.5mm x .8mm for you metric users).AND THE VALUE WAS PRINTED ON IT!
If manufacturers can print text on something that's only three hundredths of an inch tall, why the devil are we still using color codes on through-hole resistors?
-j
Sometimes people love creating barriers between themselves and "outsiders". If you use 103 instead of brown black orange or something, it's easier to the "outsiders". I think I finally memorized the color code, as I was typing this reply, after so many years of not remembering it.
why the devil are we still using color codes on through-hole resistors?
You can see the value no matter what angle you bend the leads. With a printed on value you would have to bend the leads in only one place (angle) in order to see it when mounted on the board.
Black-Brown ROYGBIV - what's so hard about that?
Hard to get all those colors on a little chip tho.
And no clue on tolerance either.
I forget the web site, had a unique Captcha-type thing, "What is the value of this resistor?"
I believe Lady Ada has such a captcha for registering.
CrossRoads:
Black-Brown ROYGBIV - what's so hard about that?
I am colorblind... I have to use my multimeter to see what resistors I am dealing with. 
That's what I do too. Those little parts are getting harder & harder to see. Should see me with a lighted magnifying glass trying to read a part ...
ROYGBIV? - uh oh somebody wasn't paying attention in class. 
BBROYGBVGW - I learned this in high school 40 years ago. Bad Boys Rape Our Young Girls But Violet Gives Willingly. Back then we were at the end stage of vacuum tubes, and resistors were no smaller than 1/2 watt. As we get older the parts get smaller, so you have to keep the magnifying glass handy. As a side note, capacitors used to have a color coding scheme to them as well. Painted dots on the side of the flat capacitors. 
Rokkit:
BBROYGBVGW - I learned this in high school 40 years ago. Bad Boys Rape Our Young Girls But Violet Gives Willingly.
I'll bet there's nowhere that's being taught now. Would have to be something politically correct.
Try this one. Oh Be A Fine Girl, Kiss Me Now Right Smack! I'm sure a few folks here know it.
I think it went "Kiss Me Right Now"
But yes there was a politically correct version for the color codes, Better Be Right Or Your Great Big Venture Goes West. Somehow that never stuck.
Rokkit:
I think it went "Kiss Me Right Now"But yes there was a politically correct version for the color codes, Better Be Right Or Your Great Big Venture Goes West. Somehow that never stuck.
Aaauuuggghhh! Right you are! What an odd thing to get backwards.
http://www.star.ucl.ac.uk/~pac/spectral_classification.html
No idea why those letters were used though. The surface temperature classification seems rather arbitrary to me although main characters could be a way to tell the class, still totally arbitrary and non-quantitative. Anyone with astronomy background cares to explain?
Bad Boys Rape Our Young Girls But Violet Gives Willingly
That is the politically correct version, the one I learn was:-
Black Bastards Rape Our Young Girls But Virgins Go Without
The surface temperature classification seems rather arbitrary to me although main characters could be a way to tell the class, still totally arbitrary and non-quantitative.
They were labeled A B C in the order they were discovered and identified. It was only when they began to understand what they actually meant was it necessary to put them in a sequence and by then every one knew what say a type A star looked like.
Grumpy_Mike:
That is the politically correct version, the one I learn was:-
In the words of Sheriff (Chief Clancy) Wiggum, "Even -I'm- offended by this, and I'm a fat Southern sheriff!" 
CrossRoads:
That's what I do too. Those little parts are getting harder & harder to see. Should see me with a lighted magnifying glass trying to read a part ...
That's what flat bed scanners are for. 
You can do a handful at once too. But handling them is still a pain.
At 1200 DPI with a little gamma correction it's easy to read chips with the print nearly wiped off too.
Bad Booze Rots Out Young Guts, But Vodka Goes Well.
Not so politically correct, but not offensive, either.
I always remembered it as being the same as the spectrum (ROY G BiV) with dark at one and and bright at the other.
That's what I do too. Those little parts are getting harder & harder to see. Should see me with a lighted magnifying glass trying to read a part ...
I bought one of these:
Haven't used it yet, waiting for my wife to wrap it and give it to me for my birthday. Looks promising, though