Quantity libraries: SIunits

From: wb_at_[hidden]
Date: 2001-09-05 17:37:21

I apologize for my absence from the Boost discussions on "quantity
library" issues.  Alas, my life recently became far more complicated.
I've been gone and back, and will still be mainly out of touch until
Monday, with (sigh) little or no connectivity available.  However, from
Monday onward, I expect to resume full participation in discussions on
this important issue.

In anticipation of my return to the office, I have posted to
        http://home.fnal.gov/~wb/SItempl8.pdf
a "pre-print" version of the paper that I will be presenting at the
Template Programming Workshop at OOPSLA in October.  This paper sets
forth many of the principles I have employed in designing and
implementing the SIunits library, and incorporates some significant
code taken from a recent version of the library.

My thanks to the Workshop organizers for their kind permission to make
this "pre-print" available.

SIunits addresses, I believe, many of the concerns and issues that have
been noted by Boosters.  For example, SIunits fully supports rational
powers of units.  In particular, of the various libraries and library
fragments that I have seen over the years, I believe SIunits is unique
in supporting what I have termed "views" -- but please see the paper
for a detailed explanation.

For the record, SIunits continues under active development.  It is my
hope to have it ready for initial Boost consideration by the time of
the upcoming Redmond meeting.

I look forward to taking part in interesting discussions regarding
quantity library issues in general and SIunits in particular, starting
Monday next.

        - WEB