Cristi Cobzarenco wrote:
First, let me apologize for this very late entry, it's the end
of university and it's been a very busy period, I hope you will still
consider it.
Note this email is best read using a fixed font.
PS: I'm really sorry if this is the wrong mailing list to post and I
hope you'll forgive me if that's the case.
======= Google Summer of Code Proposal: Statically Checked Units =======
Abstract
-------------
Measurement units allow to statically check the correctness of
assignments and expressions at virtually no performance cost and very
little extra effort. When it comes to physics the advantages are obvious
– if you try to assign a force a variable measuring distance, you've
most certainly got a formula wrong somewhere along the way. Also,
showing a sensor measurement in gallons on a litre display that keeps
track of the remaining fuel of a plane (a big no-no) is easily avoidable
with this technique. What this translates is that one more of the many
hidden assumptions in source code is made visible: units naturally
complement other contract checking techniques, like assertions,
invariants and the like. After all the unit that a value is measured in
is part of the contract.
This is one of those features that gets proposed frequently in multiple
languages. It's a great example for metaprogramming. But, are there
examples of this idea being seriously *used* in production code in ANY
language?
(For example, does anybody actually use Boost.Unit?)
