Hi all,
I've written a few audio related programs, but being from Australia, the measurements used are metric.
I'm considering adding Imperial measurements as an option for the large number of users in the US.
What I would like to find out, is if decimal inches are widely used, or do people still want to be able to specify fractions.
for example:
1.25 inches, or 1-1/4 inches.
1.375 inches or 1-3/8 inches....etc
If decimal inches are OK, how many decimal places - 2 or 3 ?
Fractional dimensions are harder to impliment, but can be done if people think they would be useful.
Does anyone have a link to any software (not necessarily audio) that they consider to have a well written interface for entering and displaying fractional Imperial dimensions.
regards
Collo
I've written a few audio related programs, but being from Australia, the measurements used are metric.
I'm considering adding Imperial measurements as an option for the large number of users in the US.
What I would like to find out, is if decimal inches are widely used, or do people still want to be able to specify fractions.
for example:
1.25 inches, or 1-1/4 inches.
1.375 inches or 1-3/8 inches....etc
If decimal inches are OK, how many decimal places - 2 or 3 ?
Fractional dimensions are harder to impliment, but can be done if people think they would be useful.
Does anyone have a link to any software (not necessarily audio) that they consider to have a well written interface for entering and displaying fractional Imperial dimensions.
regards
Collo
Collo said:
Collo,
I'm afraid that I'm one of those people that have never been confortable with the metric system, more of a reflection of my Boomer generation than anything else.
If you decide to write an Imperial plugin for your program, please do all us old coots a favor and use fractions. Nearly every ruler and tape measure is in fractions. For "normal" uses, such as cabinet construction, fractions would be a tremendous help.
I'd like to thank you on behalf of all the Metrically Impaired Members (MIM) for keeping us in mind.
Thanks,
TerryO
PS: For machining/lathe work in metal, decimal is the preferred method for Imperial measurements.
Collo said:
Vectorworks does a good job. You can enter in any mix of decimal metric or decimal imperial, fractions of either and do math on the entries (ie 5"-1.62*20mm is a valid entry and is converted to the units currently choosen as default.
http://www.nemetschek.net/
dave
Here is an example of what I'm considering.
Not quite as ambitious as Vectorworks.
It's a small calculator to test the maths and parsing rules. Written in Visual Basic 6, it will run "as is" on Windows XP. (Those running 98 would need the VB6 runtimes)
Handles decimal inches and fractions down to 1/16. Calculates in both directions
http://www.users.bigpond.com/bcolliso/imperial.exe
As AndrewT suggests, the software this interface is destined for would still use mm internally, but the MIMs can have their fractions.
Would this approach work OK?
Not quite as ambitious as Vectorworks.
It's a small calculator to test the maths and parsing rules. Written in Visual Basic 6, it will run "as is" on Windows XP. (Those running 98 would need the VB6 runtimes)
Handles decimal inches and fractions down to 1/16. Calculates in both directions
http://www.users.bigpond.com/bcolliso/imperial.exe
As AndrewT suggests, the software this interface is destined for would still use mm internally, but the MIMs can have their fractions.
Would this approach work OK?
Thanks for all the feedback.
I'll go ahead and impliment feet whilst I'm "in the zone" - it might be called for in a later project. I'm also mindful of what TerryO said about markings on rulers and tapes.
I'll use the 2' 6 1/4" or 2' 6 1/4 format suggested by planet10.
I'm not an Apple user, so Windows is the platform. I suppose I could fire up Quickbasic and port it to DOS if there's a demand......
Once I get an application converted, I'll post it here to see what y'all think of it...
ps - loved the joke!
Collo
I'll go ahead and impliment feet whilst I'm "in the zone" - it might be called for in a later project. I'm also mindful of what TerryO said about markings on rulers and tapes.
I'll use the 2' 6 1/4" or 2' 6 1/4 format suggested by planet10.
I'm not an Apple user, so Windows is the platform. I suppose I could fire up Quickbasic and port it to DOS if there's a demand......
Once I get an application converted, I'll post it here to see what y'all think of it...
ps - loved the joke!
Collo
lndm said:
FreeBSD isn't a clone. It is a full fledged UNIX (BSD=Berkely System Distribution, the same core SUN's UNIX is built on). OS X sits on a Carnegie melon Mach kernal and the base system, Darwin, is Open Source,
The new Intel Macs run XP pretty much as fast as a dedicated windows box, but Microsoft's Windows emulator on PPC is not all that fast, and then having to put up with Windows makes it something i hate going into.
dave
Collo,
Thank you very much for such a great idea. You have no idea what big help your software is going to be. I am metric user that had to convert to imperial. What a combersom system. When someone say that they do not know metric - I do not underststand that statement. There is nothing to understand, just read what is measured and multiply or divide by 10 if it's needed. But try to add 7/16 and 45/64 and devide by 2...
Even worst - measure decimal inches and convert to fractals..
Unfortunatelly all of tools, materials and measuring instruments in US are in imperial unit so one cannot just ignore and measure everything in mm what I tried in the begining. I went on and purchased callculator that does exactly as your software you are planning to develop and it was best tool purchase I made in the long time.
And it even converts Fahrenheits to Celsius!!!
Thank you very much for such a great idea. You have no idea what big help your software is going to be. I am metric user that had to convert to imperial. What a combersom system. When someone say that they do not know metric - I do not underststand that statement. There is nothing to understand, just read what is measured and multiply or divide by 10 if it's needed. But try to add 7/16 and 45/64 and devide by 2...
Even worst - measure decimal inches and convert to fractals..Unfortunatelly all of tools, materials and measuring instruments in US are in imperial unit so one cannot just ignore and measure everything in mm what I tried in the begining. I went on and purchased callculator that does exactly as your software you are planning to develop and it was best tool purchase I made in the long time.
And it even converts Fahrenheits to Celsius!!!
Attachments
I've added feet to the mix!
Same link as before....
http://www.users.bigpond.com/bcolliso/imperial.exe
I'd be interested to hear if anyone can break it!
Same link as before....
http://www.users.bigpond.com/bcolliso/imperial.exe
I'd be interested to hear if anyone can break it!
Hi Collo,
it works and any field is an input field.
and it converts silly entries; 1foot 11inches and 16/16 to sensible entry (2feet) and shows the conversions.
BRILLIANT.
Do you realise that the 25.4mm to the inch is an approximation.
The error does not affect what you are doing here since it only comes in at about the eigth or tenth significant figure.
If you were to add furlongs and miles
it would show up.
I have no idea how much time you have spent on this conversion but it seems much better than any I have seen before. they generally cannot use fields in both direction i.e. entry field and output field.
Using your knowledge of this superior display would you like to do other conversion charts and post them?
it works and any field is an input field.
and it converts silly entries; 1foot 11inches and 16/16 to sensible entry (2feet) and shows the conversions.
BRILLIANT.
Do you realise that the 25.4mm to the inch is an approximation.
The error does not affect what you are doing here since it only comes in at about the eigth or tenth significant figure.
If you were to add furlongs and miles
it would show up.I have no idea how much time you have spent on this conversion but it seems much better than any I have seen before. they generally cannot use fields in both direction i.e. entry field and output field.
Using your knowledge of this superior display would you like to do other conversion charts and post them?
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