Unit Conversion Utility — Convert Length, Weight, Temperature, and More

Lightweight Unit Conversion Utility for Developers and Data Analysts

What it is
A compact, dependency-light tool (library or CLI) that converts between common and scientific units—length, mass, time, temperature, volume, area, data size, speed, pressure, energy, and derived units—designed for embedding in developer workflows and data pipelines.

Key features

• Small footprint: Minimal dependencies, easily vendorable or embedded.
• Accurate conversions: Uses well-defined conversion factors; supports high-precision arithmetic where needed.
• Composability: Build compound conversions (e.g., kg·m/s^2 → N) and chained conversions.
• Programmatic API + CLI: Simple functions for code use and a command-line interface for quick checks or scripting.
• Extensible units: Add custom units and aliases via configuration or plugin.
• Input parsing: Accepts values with units (e.g., “9.81 m/s^2”, “32°F”) and handles SI prefixes.
• Formatting options: Control significant figures, unit display (short/long), and locale-aware separators.
• Error handling: Clear messages for unknown units, incompatible dimensions, or ambiguous inputs.
• Batch mode: Convert arrays/CSV columns for data-processing tasks.
• License friendly: Permissive license (e.g., MIT) for use in commercial projects.

Typical use cases

• Converting dataset columns during ETL (e.g., inches → cm).
• Developer tooling and build scripts.
• Unit-aware calculations in scientific and engineering code.
• Quick CLI checks when debugging or reviewing data.
• Integrating into notebooks and data-analysis pipelines.

Design decisions

• Prefer explicit dimensional analysis to prevent invalid conversions.
• Keep core small; provide optional modules for heavy domains (astronomy, chemistry).
• Use rational/decimal types for reproducible results rather than floating-point where precision matters.
• Provide predictable, deterministic formatting for logs and reports.

Quick example (pseudo-API)

python
Copy CodeCopied
u = convert(“12 in”).to(“cm”)# returns 30.48
convert(“32 F”).to(“C”)                  # returns 0
convert(“100 km/h”).to(“m/s”, 3)         # returns 27.778
convert_batch([“5 ft”, “2 m”]).to(“cm”)  # returns [152.4, 200]

Recommendation
Ship a minimal core with clear docs and tests, plus optional plugins for niche units and high-precision arithmetic.