[boost] Boost Units

From: Matthias Schabel (boost_at_[hidden])
Date: 2006-11-02 18:19:28

I've posted v0.5 of mcs::units along with updated documentation in  
the Vault/Units directory. This version has only been tested under  
gcc 4.0.1. I have attempted to put #define guards in appropriate  
places to accommodate compilers that don't support typeof, but some  
examples may not compile without it. There have been a number of  
changes and improvements since the previous version:

1) The biggest change is in the syntax for quantities. Rather than  
hiding quantity typedefs within a class templated on value type like  
the previous version (e.g. SI<double>::length), quantities are now in  
the open : quantity<double,SI::length>, with the unit definitions for  
each system being declared in a namespace. This significantly  
simplifies some things and, if anything, makes the code more self- 
documenting, IMO. Very little of the underlying code has changed  
appreciably.

2) Implementation of rational and integer powers and roots have been  
streamlined and now work in most test cases.

3) An example of interoperability of mcs::units with  
boost::math::quaternion has been added.

4) A partial reimplementation of std::complex that supports  
heterogeneous operators, and allows complex to be a value type of  
quantity or quantity to be a value type of complex, has been added as  
an example. This example demonstrates the implementation steps  
necessary to make a user-defined type that is completely  
interoperable with mcs::units. Both quantity<complex<Y>,Unit> and  
complex<quantity<Y,Unit> > function, and all operators including  
rational powers and roots behave as expected.

5) A number of physical constants from the CODATA tables have been  
added (currently only function with typeof).

As always, feedback is welcomed.

Matthias

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Matthias Schabel, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Radiology
Utah Center for Advanced Imaging Research
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