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[UDUNITS #XPL-147330]: udunits

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  • Subject: [UDUNITS #XPL-147330]: udunits
  • Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2007 09:32:39 -0600
James,

> Thanks, one note 'Dobson' is a proper name and thus should be capitalized.

It might be common to capitalize "Dobson" in your domain.  Unfortunately,
the UDUNITS package has to satisfy *all* scientific and engineering domains.
This means that I need to follow some sort of standard.  The NIST
recommends that all unit names start with a lowercase letter (see
<http://physics.nist.gov/Pubs/SP811/sec09.html>) so that's what I follow.
Note that all the following name-based units start with lowercase letters:
ampere, kelvin, hertz, newton, pascal, joule, watt, coulomb, volt, farad,
ohm, siemens, weber, tesla, henry, becquerel, gray, sievert.

If it's any consolation, NIST also recommends that symbols for name-based
units start with uppercase letters.

It won't make any difference in the UDUNITS-2 package because comparison
of unit names will be case-insensitive.

Regards,
Steve Emmerson

Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: XPL-147330
Department: Support UDUNITS
Priority: Normal
Status: Closed