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[UDUNITS #GOR-430013]: bits, bytes units

Charlie,

Thanks for arguing the need.

Version 2.2.16 of the UDUNITS package is out with support for "octet" and 
"byte". Both of these units are convertible with "bit", which was already in 
the database.

> Now I understand what you mean by saying "1" and "8" can be used now.
> However that workaround is a dead-end for user-friendliness, as
> evidenced by my confusion as to the meaning of your suggestion.
> And it does not accrue the UDUnits benefits of automagically
> converting plain English prefixes to the numeric values, e.g.,
> megabytes = 1000000 * bytes. No one wants to ask NCO to hyperslab
> all data rates between 1.234e6 8's and 5.678e6 8's, nor
> 1.234 mega8's and 5.678e6 mega8's. That would be silly.
> 
> So. The case for including "bits" and "bytes" really makes itself.
> Users would benefit if these common units of measurement were
> integrated into UDUnits. Our case is an instrument that will fly on
> a NASA satellite (ICESat2) and the Level1 datasets archive sensor
> information and disk information like "bits per second" and "bytes per
> second". Would be great if UDUnits-enable software could automatically
> translate that into "megabytes per fortnight" and "decabits per day".
> 
> The ambiguity of whether byte should mean 8 bits (commonly accepted)
> or should be reserved for the smallest addressable size on a given
> architecture is worth noting. Octet does mean 8 bits, so that is
> unambiguous. Nevertheless, people who deal with non-8-bit bytes
> already know that the rest of the world thinks a bit is 8 bytes.
> So byte = 8 bits is unlikely to adversely impact anyone.
> Adopting this definition into UDUnits will help broaden its utility
> in fields like electrical engineering, and computer science.
> 
> I looked into the Decimal vs. Binary (1000 vs. 1024) issue.
> Seems pretty clear that Decimal is the way to go so mega means the
> same for information as for SI units. "kibi"/"mebi" and friends
> could be added for completeness.
> 
> Regards,
> Charlie
> 
> --
> Charlie Zender, Earth System Sci. & Computer Sci.
> University of California, Irvine 949-891-2429 )'(


Regards,
Steve Emmerson

Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: GOR-430013
Department: Support UDUNITS
Priority: Normal
Status: Closed