I expect to be writing an application that makes lots of calculations and pulls information from lots of different tables at different times. Doing conversions adds a step to each calculation that I make (thus opening the door more chance of errors in my programming)
Yes, but there will be many places that the conversion will need to be called, and if applied at the wrong time or missed, it could cause errors which are easily overlooked until a large calculation results in an ugly mistake.
For instance, I count the number of doors in a project, but seeing that the result is a number and not looking at the context, I attempt to convert the count into feet. Now my report says that there are about 3x the number of doors that actually exist. This is a simple and easy to spot error, but with the complexity of the task I have accepted and a more abstract final parts list, it is a notable opening for program error.
It makes perfect sense that metric be the native format for ArchiCAD. I didn't really even expect to get automatic conversions (once I thought about it) , but I have learned that it is always worthwhile to ask.
I am embarrassed that I live in a country using such a backward and outdated system, even though the rest of the world has been using metric for 30 years or more.
.. the conversion function is written one time and is used in your queries and reports
Yes, but there will be many places that the conversion will need to be called, and if applied at the wrong time or missed, it could cause errors which are easily overlooked until a large calculation results in an ugly mistake.
For instance, I count the number of doors in a project, but seeing that the result is a number and not looking at the context, I attempt to convert the count into feet. Now my report says that there are about 3x the number of doors that actually exist. This is a simple and easy to spot error, but with the complexity of the task I have accepted and a more abstract final parts list, it is a notable opening for program error.
It makes perfect sense that metric be the native format for ArchiCAD. I didn't really even expect to get automatic conversions (once I thought about it) , but I have learned that it is always worthwhile to ask.
I am embarrassed that I live in a country using such a backward and outdated system, even though the rest of the world has been using metric for 30 years or more.
PotentialTech wrote:Such is the nature of programming ... and why good programmers who examine all ramifications in order to produce robust code are not cheap.
Yes, but there will be many places that the conversion will need to be called, and if applied at the wrong time or missed, it could cause errors which are easily overlooked until a large calculation results in an ugly mistake.
I am embarrassed that I live in a country using such a backward and outdated system, even though the rest of the world has been using metric for 30 years or more.I so agree.
Karl
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