On Wed, 17 Nov 2010, Richard Hainsworth wrote:
> Once a number has been generated, viz., by obtaining a duration, that number
> can be manipulated however necessary. The interpretation of the number is a
> matter for the programmer, not the language designer.
All true.
However I'd argue that you can very easily obtain a bare number as
my $plain_number = $duration / $one_time_unit
which makes it explicit that you're stripping the dimentionality.
Then you can square it or whatever to your heart's content.
Dimensioned numbers as restrictive types are useful, for uncovering bugs,
including sometimes latent ones in ported code.
Duration is a fairly clear example of a dimensioned quantity, and I think we
should think twice about abandoning its dimensionality, and the
restrictions that implies.
-Martin
