What is firkin? firkin is a python module to convert between different measurement units. Status firkin is alpha software. So far it seems to work for me but it may have severe bugs I didn't noticed yet. Use it at your own risk. Firkin is still under development and the API may change in the future. Requirements firkin only needs the Python standard lib Usage First we create an instance of UnitManager: >>> um=UnitManager() Next we create two families of units. The first one ist liter and uses SIFamily to automatically create units with the SI prefixes: prefix meaning value f femto 10^-15 p pico 10^-12 n nano 10^-9 µ micro 10^-6 m milli 10^-3 k kilo 10^3 M mega 10^6 G giga 10^9 T tera 10^12 >>> um.add(SIFamily(base='l', name='liter')) Now our UnitManager knows about fl, pl, nl, ..., Ml, Gl, Tl. How many liters are 10000 ml?: >>> um.convert_to_unit(1e4, 'ml', 'l') (Decimal("10.0000"), 'l') Next we create a family by hand: >>> f=Family(name='f', base='gallon') >>> f.add('barrel', 36, 'gallon') >>> f.add('kilderkin', 0.5, 'barrel') >>> f.add('firkin', 0.5, 'kilderkin') Now we have a family called f that used gallon as its base and knows about barrel, kilderkin and firkin, too. How much gallons is one firkin?: >>> f.convert(1, 'firkin', 'gallon') (Decimal("9.00"), 'gallon') What's the best way to express 3 kilderkin?: >>> f.autoconvert(3, 'kilderkin') (Decimal("1.50"), 'barrel') To convert between family f and family liter we need to add f to our UnitManager and tell how much liters (base unit of family liter) a gallon (base unit of family f) is: >>> um.add(f, other='liter', factor=4.54609) Of course the UnitManger can convert firkin to gallon, too: >>> um.convert_to_unit(1, 'firkin', 'gallon') (Decimal("9.00"), 'gallon') But it also can convert firkin to liters: >>> um.convert_to_unit(1, 'firkin', 'l') (Decimal("40.9148100"), 'l') Or find the best way to express one liter in one of the units from family f: >>> um.convert_to_family(1, 'l', 'f') (Decimal("0.219969248299"), 'gallon') That works with barrels, too: >>> um.convert_to_family(1, 'barrel', 'f') (Decimal("1.00"), 'barrel') A classical example: How to convert between °C and °F? We need a family for °C: >>> um.add(Family(base='°C')) and for °F. °F is (°C-32)/1.8: >>> um.add(Family(base='°F'), other='°C', offset=(-32/1.8), factor=5.0/9) Now we can convert: >>> um.convert_to_unit(32, '°F', '°C') (Decimal("-8E-12"), '°C') >>> um.convert_to_unit(100, '°C', '°F') (Decimal("212.0"), '°F') Converting between °C and ml isn't useful: >>> um.convert_to_unit(1, '°C', 'ml') (None, None) License This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the [12]GNU General Public License for more details.