Quantities is a library for type-safe physical computations and unit conversions in Idris.
(Population Explosion! by 7-how-7 – sign first seen on Andrew Kennedy's Units-of-Measure page)
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Copy this package and run
$ idris --install quantities.ipkgTo use it in your program, run Idris with
$ idris -p quantities yourprogram.idrCompatibility: Tested with Idris 1.3.1
Quantities are physical properties that you can measure. They include length, speed, pressure, electric resistance, etc. We can multiply and divide quantities to form new quantities:
Area : Quantity
Area = Length <*> Length
Speed : Quantity
Speed = Length </> Time
Volume : Quantity
Volume = Length ^ 3
Frequency : Quantity
Frequency = Time ^ (-1)Above we defined the quantities Area, Speed, Volume and Frequency in terms of Length and Time. By convention, we write quantities with capital letters.
Of course, we can't derive all quantities from existing quantities, but have to start with some base quantities. The SI system of units defines Length, Mass, Time, ElectricCurrent, Temperature, AmountOfSubstance and LuminousIntensity as base quantities. We can declare them like this:
Length : Dimension
Length = MkDimension "Length"
Time : Dimension
Time = MkDimension "Time"
Happiness : Dimension
Happiness = MkDimension "Happiness"The Quantity data type is now defined as the free abelian group over the Dimension data type. There is a function, dimensionToQuantity : Dimension -> Quantity, which implicitly converts dimensions to quantities.
A unit represents a specific amount of a quantity. For example, we have
Centimetre : Unit Length
Second : Unit Time
Ampere : Unit ElectricCurrent
Newton : Unit ForceNotice that units are indexed by the quantity they represent. Like with quantities, we can multiply and devide units to derive new units. But there is a catch: when we multiply two units, the resulting unit represents the product of their respective quantities. For example, when we multiply the unit Centimetre with itself, we get a unit for area, since Area = Length <*> Length. Therefore, we have the functions
(<**>) : {q : Quantity} -> {r : Quantity} -> Unit q -> Unit r -> Unit (q <*> r)
(<//>) : {q : Quantity} -> {r : Quantity} -> Unit q -> Unit r -> Unit (q </> r)
(^^) : {q : Quantity} -> Unit r -> (i : Integer) -> Unit (q ^ i)For example:
SquareCentimetre : Unit Area
SquareCentimetre = Centimetre <**> Centimetre -- = Centimetre ^^ 2
MetrePerSecond : Unit Speed
MetrePerSecond = Meter <//> Second
CubicCentimetre : Unit Volume
CubicCentimetre = Centimetre ^^ 3
Newton : Unit ((Length <*> Mass) </> (Time ^ 2))
Newton = (Metre <**> Kilogram) <//> (Second ^^ 2)We have to start somewhere by defining some base units:
Metre : ElemUnit Length
Metre = MkElemUnit "m" 1
Second : ElemUnit Time
Second = MkElemUnit "s" 1
Candela : ElemUnit LuminousIntensity
Candela = MkElemUnit "cd" 1
-- the quantity of happiness that a one kilogram beagle puppy whose body temperature is 310 kelvins produces when held in skin contact for one second
Puppy : ElemUnit Happiness
Puppy = MkElemUnit "puppy" 1These are called elementary units. The number at the end of MkElemUnit is the conversion rate to the base unit of the quantity. Since Metre, Candela and Puppy are the base units themselves, the conversion rate for them is 1. Which unit you consider as a base unit for a dimension isn't important as long as you stay consistent with your choices.
Elementary units are not just a way to bootstrap the system of units; they can also be used to define other units, with some syntax sugar:
Mile : ElemUnit Length
Mile = < one "mile" equals 1609.344 Metre >
-- Speed of light
C_0 : ElemUnit Speed
C_0 = < one "c_0" equals 299792458 (Metre <//> Second) >
-- If you're like me ...
Kitten : ElemUnit Happiness
Kitten = < one "kitten" equals 1.5 Puppy >Units are defined as the free abelian group over elementary units, with the addition that we keep track of the quantities that are represented by the units.
Elementary units are implicitly converted to units by the function
elemUnitToUnit : {q : Quantity} -> ElemUnit q -> Unit qMeasurements are values tagged with a unit.
data Measurement : {q : Quantity} -> Unit q -> Type -> Type where
(=|) : a -> (u : Unit q) -> Measurement u aSince Measurement is a bit long, there is a shorthand form: u :| a is the same as Measurement u a. For measurements with float values there is an even shorter alias:
F : Unit q -> Type
F u = Measurement u FloatFor example:
distanceToMoon : F Metre
distanceToMoon = 384400000.0 =| MetreSometimes, a conversion isn't necessary. For example, the unit Newton is definitionally equal to (Metre <**> Kilogram) <//> (Second ^^ 2), so you won't have to convert between these. But generally, you will need a conversion function.
distanceToMoonInMiles : F miles
distanceToMoonInMiles = convertTo Mile distanceToMoon
-- According to Wikipedia
DogYear : ElemUnit Time
DogYear = < one "dy" equals 52 Day >
myAgeInDogYears : F DogYear
myAgeInDogYears = (21 =| Year) `as` DogYearSince the target unit in the first example is clear from the context, we could write convert instead of convertTo Mile. For reference, the conversion functions used above are
convertTo : {from : Unit q} -> (to : Unit q) -> F from -> F to
convert : {from : Unit q} -> {to : Unit q} -> F from -> F to
as : {from : Unit q} -> F from -> (to : Unit q) -> F toLet's say I've lifted a 5 kg weight from ground to a height of 2 metre in 0.8 seconds. What's the average power of this action?
weight : F Kilogram
weight = 2 =| Kilogram
height : F Metre
height = 2 =| Metre
duration : F Second
duration = 0.8 =| Second
g_0 : F (Metre <//> (Second ^^ 2))
g_0 = 9.80665 =| (Metre <//> (Second ^^ 2))
averagePower : F Watt
averagePower = convert $ (weight |*| height |*| g_0) |/| duration
-- = 49.033 WattThis example shows how to multiply measurements using the functions
(|*|) : Num a => {u : Unit q} -> {v : Unit r} -> u :| a -> v :| a -> (u <**> v) :| a
(|/|) : {u : Unit q} -> {v : Unit r} -> F u -> F v -> F (u <//> v)
(|^|) : {u : Unit q} -> F u -> (i : Integer) -> F (u ^^ i)We can even use these functions to multiply measurements with scalar values:
energyConversionEfficiency : F One
energyConversionEfficiency = 0.88 =| One
batteryCapacity : F (Watt <**> Hour)
batteryCapacity = 85000 =| (Watt <**> Hour)
usedEnergy : F (Watt <**> Hour)
usedEnergy = convert $ energyConversionEfficiency |*| batteryCapacityWe can add and subtract measurements, too, but only if they have the same unit:
(<+>) : Num a => Measurement u a -> Measurement u a -> Measurement u a
(<->) : Num a => Measurement u a -> Measurement u a -> Measurement u aFor example:
eatChocolateCake : F Puppy -> F Puppy
eatChocolateCake x = x <+> (2 =| Puppy)The library comes with many quantities and units predefined.
From the International System of Units (SI):
Quantities.SIBaseQuantities: The seven SI base quantitiesLength,Mass,Time,ElectricCurrent,Temperature,LuminousIntensityandAmountOfSubstanceQuantities.SIDerivedQuantities: SI derived quantites, e.g.Velocity,Acceleration,ElectricResistance,Energy, etc.Quantities.SIBaseUnits: The base units corresponding to the base quantities:Meter,Kilogram,Second,Ampere,Kelvin,CandelaandMoleQuantities.SIDerivedUnits: Various units derived from the seven base units, e.g.Joule,Pascal,Ohm,Hertz
These four modules are reexported by the main module Quantities.
Other quantities and units:
Quantities.ImperialUnits: Imperial units, e.g.Mile,Inch,Gallon,PoundQuantities.NonSIUnits: Various common and uncommon units, e.g.Minute,Electronvolt,Calorie,Tonne,LightYearQuantities.Information: Contains the quantityInformationand its unitsBitandByteswith their various binary prefixes, e.g.mebi Bytefor 1024^2 bytes.Quantities.Screen: The quantityScreenLengthwith the unitPixel. Useful for UI programming.
All standard SI prefixes are supported. For example:
import Quantities
microscopeResolution : F (nano Metre)
microscopeResolution = 180 =| (nano Metre)
performance : F (mega Watt)
performance = 3.1 =| (mega Watt)A simple example that demonstrates how one could use quantities to implement simple movement with gravity in a game.
module Game
import Quantities
import Quantities.Screen
ScreenSpeed : Quantity
ScreenSpeed = ScreenLength </> Time
Pxs : Unit ScreenSpeed
Pxs = Pixel <//> Second
record PlayerState where
constructor MkPlayerState
xSpeed : F Pxs
ySpeed : F Pxs
xPos : F Px
yPos : F Px
gravity : Quantities.Core.F (Pxs <//> Second)
gravity = -800 =| (Pxs <//> Second)
-- Update player position and speed after a given duration
updatePlayerState : F Second -> PlayerState -> PlayerState
updatePlayerState dt (MkPlayerState xs ys xp yp) =
let newYPos = yp <+> ys |*| dt
in if newYPos <= (0 =| Px)
then MkPlayerState (0 =| Pxs) (0 =| Pxs) xp (0 =| Px)
else MkPlayerState xs (ys <+> gravity |*| dt)
(xp <+> xs |*| dt) newYPosFeedback and pull requests adding code and units are welcome!
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