unitsextended

Unitsextended is a software library concept that extends the handling of measurement units in programming environments. It aims to complement base unit systems by introducing a broader registry of units, including derived, conventional, and domain-specific units, along with reliable conversion and parsing capabilities.

The design emphasizes interoperability with existing unit libraries, allowing seamless registration of new units and compatibility checks. It supports parsing of compact and symbolic unit expressions, normalization to canonical forms, and generation of human-readable representations.

Core features include an extensible unit registry, support for derived and compound units (such as newton meters or rpm-based expressions), dimensional analysis constraints, and localization-friendly formatting. It also supports scenario-specific offset units (like Celsius) and tolerates ambiguous names through synonyms.

Architecture and usage: implemented as a registry-driven layer that stores unit metadata (name, symbol, scale factor, offset, dimensions) separate from numeric quantities. Applications perform conversions, validate dimensional compatibility, and simplify complex unit expressions. It is suitable for scientific computing, engineering tools, data pipelines, and educational software.

Availability and context: unitsextended is a conceptual description used in documentation to illustrate how an extended unit system could be designed. Real-world implementations may vary and adopt different naming conventions, licensing, and integration strategies. Related topics include International System of Units, SI prefixes, dimensional analysis, and unit registries.