Grapple (tool)

A grapple is a hook or claw used to catch or hold something. A ship's anchor is a type of grapple, especially the "grapnel" anchor.

A throwing grapple (or "grappling hook") is a multi-pronged hook that is tied to a rope and thrown to catch a grip, as on a parapet or branch of a tree. It may also be used in a boat to "drag" the bottom of a waterway to hook debris or to find missing objects.

In logging and other engineering vehicles, a grapple is a hydraulically powered claw with two or more opposing levers that pinch a log or other materials, usually to lift or drag them.

The logging grapple used in swing yarding is not moved by hydraulics but by cables. To open and close the tongs of the grapple, two cables are used. One is tensioned and the other is slacked off to move the tongs. A third cable goes back to the tail hold then to the yarder. This third cable is used to pull the grapple out into the setting and to create tension for lifting the grapple in the air.

A grapple can be mounted to a tractor or excavator with a movable arm that may lift, extend/retract, and move side-to-side (pivot or rotate). Some machines also have a separate control for rotating the grapple.

Tool

A tool is any physical item that can be used to achieve a goal, especially if the item is not consumed in the process. Tool use by humans dates back millions of years, and other animals are also known to employ simple tools.

Tools that are used in particular fields or activities may have different designations such as "instrument", "utensil", "implement", "machine", "device," or "apparatus". The set of tools needed to achieve a goal is "equipment". The knowledge of constructing, obtaining and using tools is technology.

History

Anthropologists believe that the use of tools was an important step in the evolution of mankind. Because tools are used extensively by both humans and wild chimpanzees, it is widely assumed that the first routine use of tools took place prior to the divergence between the two species. These early tools, however, were likely made of perishable materials such as sticks, or consisted of unmodified stones that cannot be distinguished from other stones as tools.

Stone artifacts only date back to about 2.5 million years ago. However, a 2010 study suggests the hominin species Australopithecus afarensis ate meat by carving animal carcasses with stone implements. This finding pushes back the earliest known use of stone tools among hominins to about 3.4 million years ago.

Programming tool

A programming tool or software development tool is a computer program that software developers use to create, debug, maintain, or otherwise support other programs and applications. The term usually refers to relatively simple programs, that can be combined together to accomplish a task, much as one might use multiple hand tools to fix a physical object. The ability to use a variety of tools productively is one hallmark of a skilled software engineer.

The most basic tools are a source code editor and a compiler or interpreter, which are used ubiquitously and continuously. Other tools are used more or less depending on the language, development methodology, and individual engineer, and are often used for a discrete task, like a debugger or profiler. Tools may be discrete programs, executed separately – often from the command line – or may be parts of a single large program, called an integrated development environment (IDE). In many cases, particularly for simpler use, simple ad hoc techniques are used instead of a tool, such as print debugging instead of using a debugger, manual timing (of overall program or section of code) instead of a profiler, or tracking bugs in a text file or spreadsheet instead of a bug tracking system.

Tool (song)

"Tool" is a 7" single by Baboon that was released in 1993 on Silver Girl Records. Side A is 33rpm while side B is 45rpm.

The song "Tool" also appears on the band's first album, Face Down in Turpentine, though the album version is a different recording. The recording of "Tool" from this single also appears on the Get It Through Your Thick Skull compilation.

This version of the first b-side ("Why'd You Say Die?") is also on Face Down in Turpentine and Baboon's 1996 The Numb E.P..

Track listing

All songs by Baboon.

Personnel