Re: standard units in software

[Matthew Shepherd <mashephe@indiana.edu>]

In CLEO we had a set of constants defined in a file called units.h

One would then write things like:

0.25*k_GeV, 120*k_MeV, 15*k_m, ...

The constants were multiplicative factors to convert the numbers to  
standard units.  This was very nice since one never had to think about  
what the standard units were and the code looks much nicer:

if( energy > 30*k_MeV ){
...
}

I would advocate a similar approach for us.

-Matt


On Nov 24, 2008, at 9:13 AM, David Lawrence wrote:

>
> Hi Mark,
>
>   I distinctly remember discussing this at a software meeting a long  
> time ago. However, it does not appear to have made it into the  
> coding conventions and a quick scan of meeting minutes was none too  
> fruitful.
>
>   I think we should add this to the coding conventions with the  
> exact units you suggest using Tesla for the magnetic field. Would  
> you mind adding the entry to the coding conventions wiki page? Then,  
> we can discuss it and ratify it at the software meeting next week.
>
> Regards,
> -David
>
> Mark M. Ito wrote:
>> Folks,
>>
>> Do we have an official set of standard units written down  
>> somewhere? I am talking about things like
>>
>> centimeters
>> nanoseconds
>> GeV
>> Tesla? kilogauss?
>>
>> where one can assume a given quantity in the software is in  
>> standard units unless stated otherwise explicitly.
>>
>> -- Mark
>>
>
> -- 
>
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