arjenmarkus/handling-units

Investigate the uses for units in a program and formulate requirements for a "units" facility

Units of measure in (Fortran) programs

[View Paper Preview]

Many solutions have been suggested for a wide range of programming languages to deal with units of measure in a consistent way. And by that we mean:

• Variable a may represent a length and variable b may represent a temperature. The program may want to multiply them or divide them, a*bor a/b but the sum a+b is not defined.
• Input may be expected in meters, but may I use inches instead? Should this be seen as an error or is it possible to automatically convert to the right unit?

We examine the various uses (implicit and explicit) of units -- and dimensions -- in typical programs, so that it becomes possible to formulate a set of requirements that specific implementations or language features may conform to. Failing to meet a requirement does not mean that the implementation is unuseable: it may simply impose restrictions on the use within an actual program.