From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Msuck: nntp://news.gmane.io/gmane.comp.tex.context/25444 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Ville Voipio Newsgroups: gmane.comp.tex.context Subject: Units -- a few things Date: Fri, 20 Jan 2006 19:58:52 +0200 Message-ID: <43D124DC.7080705@kpatents.com> Reply-To: mailing list for ConTeXt users NNTP-Posting-Host: main.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1137780088 28911 80.91.229.2 (20 Jan 2006 18:01:28 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 20 Jan 2006 18:01:28 +0000 (UTC) Original-X-From: ntg-context-bounces@ntg.nl Fri Jan 20 19:01:25 2006 Return-path: Envelope-to: gctc-ntg-context-518@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from ronja.vet.uu.nl ([131.211.172.88] helo=ronja.ntg.nl) by ciao.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1F00Yx-0004KT-SE for gctc-ntg-context-518@m.gmane.org; Fri, 20 Jan 2006 19:00:40 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by ronja.ntg.nl (Postfix) with ESMTP id D9FE012852; Fri, 20 Jan 2006 19:00:38 +0100 (CET) Original-Received: from ronja.ntg.nl ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (smtp.ntg.nl [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with LMTP id 24250-01; Fri, 20 Jan 2006 19:00:38 +0100 (CET) Original-Received: from ronja.vet.uu.nl (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by ronja.ntg.nl (Postfix) with ESMTP id 45EB312831; Fri, 20 Jan 2006 18:58:55 +0100 (CET) Original-Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by ronja.ntg.nl (Postfix) with ESMTP id BE18312831 for ; Fri, 20 Jan 2006 18:58:53 +0100 (CET) Original-Received: from ronja.ntg.nl ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (smtp.ntg.nl [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with LMTP id 23941-09 for ; Fri, 20 Jan 2006 18:58:52 +0100 (CET) Original-Received: from mail.kpatents.com (mail.kpatents.com [195.170.128.67]) by ronja.ntg.nl (Postfix) with SMTP id 9DA3F127C8 for ; Fri, 20 Jan 2006 18:58:52 +0100 (CET) Original-Received: (qmail 7074 invoked from network); 20 Jan 2006 17:58:52 -0000 Original-Received: from unknown (HELO ?192.168.100.157?) (192.168.100.157) by 192.168.100.1 with SMTP; 20 Jan 2006 17:58:52 -0000 User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0.2 (Windows/20050317) X-Accept-Language: en-us, en Original-To: mailing list for ConTeXt users X-Virus-Scanned: amavisd-new at ntg.nl X-BeenThere: ntg-context@ntg.nl X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: mailing list for ConTeXt users List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: ntg-context-bounces@ntg.nl Errors-To: ntg-context-bounces@ntg.nl X-Virus-Scanned: amavisd-new at ntg.nl Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.comp.tex.context:25444 Archived-At: There seems to be a small glitch in m-units.tex. The unit \Bit typesets "Bit". This is wrong, as bits are always in lowercase first letter: a single bit: bit a byte: B It is also possible to use b (for bit) and Byte (for B). However, bits are always small and Bytes large. The best practice seems to be to spell bits out (bit) and use abbreviation for Bytes (B). This minimizes confusion. I fixed this problem in my ConTeXt installation by tweaking rows 664 and 666. For more discussion, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byte It might be worth it to implement the octet (o), as well. It is a good unit (more precise and descriptive than byte) but the abbreviation is horrible. --- Another related thing is whether ConTeXt should implement IEC 60027-2 binary prefices (Ki, Mi, Gi, Ti). More info on this: http://www.iec.ch/zone/si/si_bytes.htm --- Well, then to a more practical thing... This is a very trivial question, but still. When writing a number and the unit, it would be nice to have automatic formatting. What I mean is that when I have a million two hundred thousand kilograms, I would like it to be typeset: 1(small space)200(small space)000(small space)kg Everything on a single row despite where it is. Now I write: 1\,200\,000\,\Kilo\Gram It would be more legible, if I could just write: \unit{1200000}{\Kilo\Gram} Taking care of all the fancy small spaces should be computer's problem. not mine... (Or does this mechanism already exist?) - Ville