Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

You should check out Frink, a delightful unit-preserving calculator and language optimized for (but not limited to) back-of-the-envelope calculation.

Yes, it has implicit multiplication! :) It also offers exact rational fractions, transparent bigint conversion, and plus/minus intervals that automatically tracks error bars through all arithmetic operations.

Docs: https://futureboy.us/frinkdocs

Online REPL: https://futureboy.us/fsp/frink.fsp?fromVal=1+furlong+%2F+for...

[Unexpectedly humorous] units data file: https://futureboy.us/frinkdata/units.txt



I am well aware of Frink, and glad you mentioned it!

Julia has the advantage that you can do things with it that aren't unitful calculations, a classic 80% solution. Frink has the advantage that, well... it's Frink. Really nothing else like it.


Awesome! I admit I'm a bit confused though: Frink doesn't force you to use units (you could ignore them if you wanted, and even skip loading the built-in units on startup), so I'm not sure where the advantage is.

Were you thinking of a specific feature set in Julia that's lacking in Frink? Thanks.


What I meant is that Julia is a general purpose programming language, and Frink is a comprehensive and thorough calculation DSL.

You could use Frink for things that aren't its focus, of course. But few would want to.


I am not well aware. Thanks and just another reason why I love this little place on the web.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: