Fun thread about electronics notation history. No, really! https://twitter.com/TubeTimeUS/status/1249023089528078337

Fun personal history fact related to the IBM transistor symbol that @kenshirriff points out in this tweet -- that, along with some bad textbook diagrams, confused me a lot in high school electronics class, a million years ago. https://twitter.com/kenshirriff/status/1249089441546854400

The fact that that symbol is symmetric, but real transistors are not, was a source of much consternation for me in high school electronics class. That simplified diagram is everywhere, but actual transistors don't work like that, collectors and emitters are different.

But there are good references on line -- see e.g. here:
https://www.ibiblio.org/kuphaldt/electricCircuits/Semi/SEMI_2.html

Around 2/3 of the way down, there's a much better picture.

(I seem to have mangled this thread in twitter, hopefully the basic idea is intact...)