[boost] Re: Re: Units libraries.,.. (long reply)

From: Andy Little (andy_at_[hidden])
Date: 2004-01-13 18:39:26

"Dave Gomboc" <dave_at_[hidden]> wrote
> [Dan W. wrote:]

> However, there is a difference in another way: switching from degrees
> Celsius or degrees Farenheit to using kelvins enables division and
> multiplication to be meaningful, e.g. 10 kelvins is actually twice as hot
> as 5 kelvins.  The systems all have a defined zero point, but the zero
> point for kelvins actually represents the absence of heat.
>
> Is there an intent for any of these proposed dimensional and unit
> libraries to restrict the types of operations being performed according to
> the scale of measurement that the unit belongs to?  e.g. 10 kelvins / 5
> kelvins gives 2 kelvins, but 10 degrees Celsius / 5 degrees Celsius gives
> not only 2 degrees Celsius but also a compiler warning? :-)  (An error
> would be too severe -- it's pretty common for social scientists to take
> means of ordinal data.)

I would dearly love to be able to give user/developer definable warnings.
C++ needs this.

regards
Andy Little