An Ada package for dimensional analysis

This paper illustrates the use of Ada's abstraction facilities-notably, operator overloading and type parameterization-to define an oft-requested feature: a way to attribute units of measure to variables and values. The definition given allows the programmer to specify units of measure for vari...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:ACM transactions on programming languages and systems 1988-04, Vol.10 (2), p.189-203
Main Author: Hilfinger, Paul N.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Compilers
Computer science
control theory
systems
Data types and structures
Exact sciences and technology
Extensible languages
General programming languages
Language features
Language types
Modules / packages
Programming languages
Software
Software and its engineering
Software notations and tools
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Summary:This paper illustrates the use of Ada's abstraction facilities-notably, operator overloading and type parameterization-to define an oft-requested feature: a way to attribute units of measure to variables and values. The definition given allows the programmer to specify units of measure for variables, constants, and parameters; checks uses of these entities for dimensional consistency; allows arithmetic between them, where legal; and provides scale conversions between commensurate units. It is not constrained to a particular system of measurement (such as the metric or English systems). Although the definition is in standard Ada and requires nothing special of the compiler, certain reasonable design choices in the compiler, discussed here at some length, can make its implementation particularly efficient.
ISSN:0164-0925
1558-4593
DOI:10.1145/42190.42346