Cover fe ature 47 january 2012 Published by the ieee computer Society 0018-9162/12/$31. 00 2012 ieee

Speed sp1 = Value<1,0,0> (100)/ Value<0,0,1> (9.8); 

// use a shorthand notation:

Speed sp1 = Value (100)/ Value (9.8);

// abbreviate further still:

Speed sp1 = Meters(100)/Seconds(9.8); 

Speed sp1 = M(100)/S(9.8); 

// this is getting cryptic

Notation matters. SI units are important and should 

be supported, but so should a variety of other notions. 

The fundamental point here is that we can improve 

code quality without adding runtime costs. The use of 

a static type system improves code quality by reducing 

the number of errors and moves checking to compile 

time. In fact, we can move much simple computation to 

compile time. 

Compile-time computation has been done in a variety 

of languages for decades. Before that (and sometimes still) 

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