Re: Extended unit

On Tue, Jan 25, 2005 at 05:17:21PM +0100, Alban Hertroys wrote:
> Martijn van Oosterhout wrote:
> >I think it's a wonderful idea. You could use a similar mechanism to
> >implement:
> >
> >- Currencies (so you can't add dollars to pounds)
> >- Timezone aware timestamps (so a time in Australia looks differet from
> >a time in Europe)
> >
> >Probably much more.
>
> Indeed, you could even add a way to convert between different types if
> they are in the same categories; for example convert between dollars and
> euro's or between degrees Celsius and degrees Fahrenheit (that's a
> trickier one, the shell command 'units' returns wrong results there).

I think it would be fabulous if it could be implemented as a generic
extension to the type system, because I'm sure there are even cooler
uses than what we are thinking of here...

> OTOH, it's probably not that a good idea to add all kinds of complicated
> (read: "processor intensive") math to a database engine.

We're talking here about a database with indexes to speed up
intersection tests for arbitrary polygons, extensions to handle
encryption, full text indexing and even builtin XML support. I think
arguing excessive use of CPU cycles is a bit late :)

I think the argument is that if it helps people do their work
"correctly" then it's worth supporting. As long as it doesn't hamper
anybody else.

Have a nice day,
--
Martijn van Oosterhout <kleptog(at)svana(dot)org> http://svana.org/kleptog/
> Patent. n. Genius is 5% inspiration and 95% perspiration. A patent is a
> tool for doing 5% of the work and then sitting around waiting for someone
> else to do the other 95% so you can sue them.