- A socket can connect to a plain solid wire for quick connections to breadboards, etc.
- In rockets, the rule of thumb is if something is disconnected, the side that remains powered should not be an exposed pin to prevent an accidental short when wires are jostled around.
- Looks cleaner than the bare pins; no concern of something outside the circuit (eg. a meter) brushing up against a pair of pins and accidentally shorting them.
It seems many others use the opposite convention, such as in the Arduino case. (Reader Plazma points out that other photos of the Arduino show the female convention being used.) Ultimately, it would be nice to use the convention that is common to most users, making use of other people's designs, "shields", expansion boards and what not easy.
So what does everyone think? Which convention would be the better one to use, male or female headers on the LaunchPad? Why?