• f@ (unregistered) in reply to wayne
    mrprogguy:
    There are lots of reasons not to use the Metric system, the first of which being that there's too many units that no one actually uses. For example, the decimeter.
    wayne:
    You gave exactly no reason against the metric system

    Um... I counted at least one reason in that quote...

  • Flo (unregistered) in reply to mrprogguy
    mrprogguy:
    There are lots of reasons not to use the Metric system, the first of which being that there's too many units that no one actually uses. For example, the decimeter.
    Well... the unit ist still meter when you use kilometers, decimeters (they are in use), millimeters, etc.

    kilo-, milli-, deci- are just references to a 10^n multiplier so you don't have to talk about 0.00000001 meter (0.01 micrometer or 10 nanometer). All you have to know is how long a meter is... Are there milliinches in the US? :)

    We see there is no reason against the metric system. The usage of the metric SI units for science might be a point for the metric units.

  • mnature (unregistered) in reply to wayne
    wayne:
    It's always fun when someone starts to defend the imperial system.

    You gave exactly no reason against the metric system and you gave exactly no reason for the imperial system.

    The only advantage of the imperial system in countries like the U.S. is that you guys already know it.

    The biggest advantage to the imperial system is that it is based roughly upon the human body, which you carry about with you all the time (well, most of us do, anyway). Makes for quick-and-dirty on-the-fly measurements and approximations. If you look at languages, the verbs that tend to be most irregular are the ones that are used the most (I am, you are, he is, etc.). So it is with the imperial system, where 12 inches equal one foot. Seems like a rather odd number, but if you do woodworking or metalworking, it can be very handy to have a standard such as 12 inches that can be easily subdivided into 1/2's, 1/3's, 1/4's and 1/6's. In the case of volumes, a gallon of water is 8 pounds, making a quart 2 pounds, and a cup 1/2 pound. If you are using a simple balance, where you place a known weight on one side versus what you are measuring out on the other, you can then use specific volumes of water (easily available) to measure out weights of anything else.

    What appears arbitrary was simply based on convenience. Metric is convenient if you are using decimals (though that is usually limited to multiplying or dividing by powers of ten, and makes no difference for addition and subtraction). Imperial is convenient if you need to do quick estimates or are using a lot of fractions (which are much more accurate than decimal numbers).

    Let us not forget that extremely popular unit of measurement, which is used extensively anymore for specifying moderate distances and areas: That is, the football field. Most news articles that need to talk about distances and areas are now using the length or area of a football field (or multiples thereof) when reporting on particular distances and areas. Which simply proves that people will tend to use some familiar popular standard when the official standards do not match with their needs. In this case, neither Imperial nor metric has a length or area unit which fits easily into news reporting.

  • bramster (unregistered) in reply to wayne
    wayne:
    mrprogguy:
    There are lots of reasons not to use the Metric system, the first of which being that there's too many units that no one actually uses. For example, the decimeter. No one actually uses the decimeter. It's there, of course, because it has to be there, but nobody uses it. Common usage is millimeter, centimeter (although I see 0.3cm and the like all the time), the meter, and the kilometer.

    When was the last time you saw something listed in megameters? You just don't--which leads to a lot of confusion on the part of people trying to convert to metric. ("Why are there all these names I have to learn but will never, ever use?")

    And, when you get right down to it, what's so weird about making a unit of length based on any arbitrary thing you happen to like? After all, the original definition of the meter was 1/10,000,000 of the distance from the equator to the north pole through Paris (through Paris!). That's right, ladies and germs, the unit of straight-line measurement was determined as 1/10,000,000 of a particular arc! (Those wacky French!)

    Now it's a bit better defined (distance travelled by light in a perfect vacuum in 1/c seconds), but it's still arbitrary.

    Learning the Imperial system isn't that difficult, either--really little more difficult than learning an alphabet. Since I have training in the sciences, I know both the Imperial and Metric systems--which I believe, under your qualifications, means I have a brain. Maybe more of a brain than you Metric-only goons.

    It could happen.

    It's always fun when someone starts to defend the imperial system.

    You gave exactly no reason against the metric system and you gave exactly no reason for the imperial system.

    The only advantage of the imperial system in countries like the U.S. is that you guys already know it.

    One Nautical mile equals one minute of lattitude.

    I know, it's not a statute mile. . .

    captcha : gotcha

  • The Fox (unregistered)
    Let us not forget that extremely popular unit of measurement, which is used extensively anymore for specifying moderate distances and areas: That is, the football field.

    Please, please, don't go there. You might not be aware that the term "football" has some interesting localization issues as well.

  • (cs) in reply to Asd
    Asd:
    There was a similar situation with America too. Deportation and indentured service in America, or hanging were offered as options to convicted criminals

    That's a long leap from "colony employing criminals as indentured servants to Englishmen, Germans, and Huguenots" to "penal colony".

  • Anonymous (unregistered) in reply to wayne
    wayne:
    It's always fun when someone starts to defend the imperial system.

    You gave exactly no reason against the metric system and you gave exactly no reason for the imperial system.

    The only advantage of the imperial system in countries like the U.S. is that you guys already know it.

    Historically speaking, imperial units make a lot of sense -- especially for commerce and engineering. Imperial units are full of numbers that are divisible by many small number primes: 12 for example is 223 (12 inches in a foot; 12 loaves in a dozen). The examples go on from there.

    In modern times, there is only one reason we Americans keep using the imperial system (yes, I was born and raised, and continue to live in the U.S.): Because we're stubborn!

    CAPTCHA: doom - the fate of the poor sap who created the code featured in this article.

  • Mogri (unregistered) in reply to European
    European:
    You, Moron!! The same way you don't fucking use the bloody metrical system (inches... measured from a King's hand... ha!) we use diverse decimal separators. And also use something different from you: the BRAIN!

    BTW, start mocking other nations when yours get something like a decent history... At least, our forefathers weren't outcasts come from England's jails ¬¬

    (captcha: darwin.... and guys like this not being at darwinawards.com ¬¬)

    Count the English errors! I see five, but I might be missing one or two.

  • Tom Woolf (unregistered) in reply to woops...
    woops...:
    iceburg:
    I may be missing something, but why are globalization settings set by CurrentThread? Are they worried one thread might be in a different country than another?
    Imagine you need to parse a file in a thread with country aware settings other than what the app usually runs under, e.g. because the file is definitely from another country. Would you then set a globally - valid for all threads - setting of the country, all other threads would misfunction as long as this one parses the said file.

    captcha: onomatopoeia ... the disease those people suffer from

    Correction - only Georgia was used as a European convict dumping ground. (Miami is Cuba's convict dumping ground.) The rest of the Colonies were set up by folks who resented being dominated by those who had different religious beliefs. They came here so that THEY could dominate OTHERS with their own fanatical version of their religion.

  • (cs) in reply to mrprogguy
    mrprogguy:
    There are lots of reasons not to use the Metric system, the first of which being that there's too many units that no one actually uses. For example, the decimeter. No one actually uses the decimeter. It's there, of course, because it has to be there, but nobody uses it. Common usage is millimeter, centimeter (although I see 0.3cm and the like all the time), the meter, and the kilometer.

    When was the last time you saw something listed in megameters? You just don't--which leads to a lot of confusion on the part of people trying to convert to metric. ("Why are there all these names I have to learn but will never, ever use?")

    And, when you get right down to it, what's so weird about making a unit of length based on any arbitrary thing you happen to like? After all, the original definition of the meter was 1/10,000,000 of the distance from the equator to the north pole through Paris (through Paris!). That's right, ladies and germs, the unit of straight-line measurement was determined as 1/10,000,000 of a particular arc! (Those wacky French!)

    Now it's a bit better defined (distance travelled by light in a perfect vacuum in 1/c seconds), but it's still arbitrary.

    Learning the Imperial system isn't that difficult, either--really little more difficult than learning an alphabet. Since I have training in the sciences, I know both the Imperial and Metric systems--which I believe, under your qualifications, means I have a brain. Maybe more of a brain than you Metric-only goons.

    It could happen.

    I didn't see the mandatory </sarcasm> tag at the end of your post so I assume you are being serious. My sarcasm-counter only emits a weak chime.

    However, that "more of a brain then you" does strike me as perhaps indicating a humorous intention. Anyway, just as a point in case, in Sweden the decilitre is an extremely common measurement - it is used frequently, pervasively, and happily because it is very intuitive and a great measurement in everyday life, for instance when cooking.

    About the various names, here again I guess you might in fact be sarcastic since the Imperial system is crawling with archaic measurements, still, just in case you truly believe what you say: there are a lot of measurements, you don't have to use them all, but they're there for you for when you will need to. And they're internally consistent. Also, if you're a programmer you shouldn't really mind multiple units, it's what we deal with all the time.

    Going on, in count with your paragraphs, there's everything wrong with just positing arbitrary measurements that are inconsistent or uncomfortable with other units. For the SI scientifically reasonable points of origin were selected and all derived units are consistent.

    Learning the Imperial might not be "difficult" (depending on your definition of difficult) but neither is learning foreign languages or sections of the telephone directory by heart. In contrast, learning the metric is trivial, again due to the decimal base and inter-measurement consistency.

    Oh well, if you were sarcastic, go ahead and have your laugh, otherwise feel enlightened. :)

  • (cs) in reply to mrprogguy
    mrprogguy:
    There are lots of reasons not to use the Metric system, the first of which being that there's too many units that no one actually uses.

    Oh, and I suppose everybody uses the peck, bushel, rod, link, chain, gill, hogshead, dram, and stick then?

  • Harrow (unregistered)

    I am ashamed to admit that when I first scanned this WTF I mentally rewrote it in a more compact form without the temp var...

      CultureInfo culture = System.Threading.Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture;

  if (currentValue<0||currentValue>(decimal.Parse("999999"+
         culture.NumberFormat.CurrencyDecimalSeparator+"99", culture))) //m
  {
     // ...
  }

before tumbling to what is really wrong with it.

    -Harrow.

  • (cs) in reply to mnature
    mnature:
    The biggest advantage to the imperial system is that it is based roughly upon the human body, which you carry about with you all the time (well, most of us do, anyway). Makes for quick-and-dirty on-the-fly measurements and approximations. If you look at languages, the verbs that tend to be most irregular are the ones that are used the most (I am, you are, he is, etc.). So it is with the imperial system, where 12 inches equal one foot. Seems like a rather odd number, but if you do woodworking or metalworking, it can be very handy to have a standard such as 12 inches that can be easily subdivided into 1/2's, 1/3's, 1/4's and 1/6's. In the case of volumes, a gallon of water is 8 pounds, making a quart 2 pounds, and a cup 1/2 pound. If you are using a simple balance, where you place a known weight on one side versus what you are measuring out on the other, you can then use specific volumes of water (easily available) to measure out weights of anything else.

    What appears arbitrary was simply based on convenience. Metric is convenient if you are using decimals (though that is usually limited to multiplying or dividing by powers of ten, and makes no difference for addition and subtraction). Imperial is convenient if you need to do quick estimates or are using a lot of fractions (which are much more accurate than decimal numbers).

    And then we get the old "close-to-the-body" and "more convenient for quick estimates" arguments. These are attractive, but really false, for exactly the same reason you provide in your final paragraph: what is convenient is really what you are used, and convenience and habit is easily justified, thus your arguments are really fallacies.

    I'm used to the metric system and estimate things just as easily, readily and accurately (perhaps even more so?) as you do in the Imperial. I know exactly the fraction of my handspan a decimetre has or the amount of mu height a metre is. Thus, the metre is just as "personally physically close" as the Imperial. And don't try to argue that the fluid oz has some mystical correspondence with your morning urination or something...

    Then let's debunk the "calculating fractions" argument. The Imperial can be argued to be more convenient for dividing by three and four, but only for measurements based on 12. Aren't the only ratios still so in the US the inch-to-foot and troy ounce to troy pound? And you can't argue that the troy pound is a common measurement...

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication_arguments_and_counter-arguments:
    However, only few parts of the Imperial or US customary systems actually feature the factor twelve, namely the inch-to-foot ratio and the rarely used troy ounce-to-troy pound ratio. Powers of two are more common, especially in volume measures, along with other factors including five, seven and eleven.
  • (cs) in reply to Mikademus

    Adding to the previous message (damn the too-short edit times!)

    The point is that division by HALF, which is probably the most common division, is more difficult in the Imperial, while quarters are actually very easy in the metric. Thirds too are really not difficult. Your "convenience of divisions" argument simply does not hold water.

  • Anonymous (unregistered) in reply to Mikademus
    Mikademus:
    mnature:
    In the case of volumes, a gallon of water is 8 pounds, making a quart 2 pounds, and a cup 1/2 pound. If you are using a simple balance, where you place a known weight on one side versus what you are measuring out on the other, you can then use specific volumes of water (easily available) to measure out weights of anything else.

    And then we get the old "close-to-the-body" and "more convenient for quick estimates" arguments. These are attractive, but really false, for exactly the same reason you provide in your final paragraph: what is convenient is really what you are used, and convenience and habit is easily justified, thus your arguments are really fallacies.

    Exactly. A gallon of water is 8 pounds? So what? A litre of water is one kilogram. In fact I'd argue that is even easier... 1000 grams is 1000 millilitres, your volume-to-mass conversions don't even need to change the numbers, just the units.

  • (cs) in reply to warren
    warren:
    The Real WTF is that "System.Globalization" uses United States-centric spelling!
    Well, there's a little town in the south west of England which prefers that spelling too. They write a dictionary there - for some reason they think that makes them authoritative.

    (They have strange rules regarding commas in lists as well.)

  • Anonymous (unregistered) in reply to bramster
    bramster:
    One Nautical mile equals one minute of lattitude.

    How is that supposed to work when the earth is not perfectly spherical? Either your "nautical mile" changes length depending on your latitude, or your statement is incorrect.

    From Wikipedia...

    1 nautical mile = 1852 metres exactly. ... By the definition of geodetic latitude, length of the minute of arc depends on the radius of curvature; distance to the angle (1 minute, in this case), not to the Earth's centre. This length equals to approx. 1849.12 metres at the poles and 1855.34 metres at the Equator.
  • (cs) in reply to Veinor
    Veinor:
    mrprogguy:
    There are lots of reasons not to use the Metric system, the first of which being that there's too many units that no one actually uses.

    Oh, and I suppose everybody uses the peck, bushel, rod, link, chain, gill, hogshead, dram, and stick then?

    The bushel and dram, certainly. Produce (fruits and vegetables, in case there's confusion) is sold by the bushel when you buy that much; we use bushel baskets for carrying things. I still see pharmacists (chemists, whatever you call them over there) using the dram when something has to be mixed rather than just sold as a package. Same goes for the grain.

  • (cs) in reply to Youssef
    Youssef:
    You can blame MS for this problem with percision.
    No.
  • Belcat (unregistered) in reply to mrprogguy
    mrprogguy:
    There are lots of reasons not to use the Metric system, the first of which being that there's too many units that no one actually uses. For example, the decimeter. No one actually uses the decimeter. It's there, of course, because it has to be there, but nobody uses it. Common usage is millimeter, centimeter (although I see 0.3cm and the like all the time), the meter, and the kilometer.

    When was the last time you saw something listed in megameters? You just don't--which leads to a lot of confusion on the part of people trying to convert to metric. ("Why are there all these names I have to learn but will never, ever use?")

    Now it's a bit better defined (distance travelled by light in a perfect vacuum in 1/c seconds), but it's still arbitrary.

    Learning the Imperial system isn't that difficult, either--really little more difficult than learning an alphabet. Since I have training in the sciences, I know both the Imperial and Metric systems--which I believe, under your qualifications, means I have a brain. Maybe more of a brain than you Metric-only goons.

    It could happen.

    Well, let me see, just for mesuring liquids, we have more units than Metric has for the same thing: teaspoon, tablespoon, cups, pints, quarts, gallons

    For Metric, likely you'll only use mililiter and liter. Damm, that sounds so much easier already.

    Let's try mesurements.. Just the common ones. Imperial: inches, feet, yards, nautical miles, miles. Metric: milimeters, centimeters, meters, kilometers. Still less here, and I can tell you the difference between the metric ones. Can you tell me the difference between the imperial ones without looking it up?

    Captcha: darwin ... yes I think Darwin envolution is happening for units..

  • (cs) in reply to mrprogguy
    mrprogguy:
    It could happen.
    If this last line suggests that you are being sarcastic, then only read the last paragraph, which I think is interesting at any rate. Otherwise:
    mrprogguy:
    There are lots of reasons not to use the Metric system, the first of which being that there's too many units that no one actually uses...("Why are there all these names I have to learn but will never, ever use?")
    Er...as someone else mentioned, there are plenty of Imperial units that go unused by people not in specific industries, and even more that go unused by everyone in general. In addition, someone "learning" the metric system essentially needs to learn the prefixes, several of which are already in use in English anyway, e.g., kilobyte. (Before someone jumps down my throat: I know that a kilobyte is 1024 bytes, but it's used by most people to mean about 1000 bytes. Either way, someone who knows either of those values as a kilobyte will understand quickly what a kilogram or kilometer is.)
    And, when you get right down to it, what's so weird about making a unit of length based on any arbitrary thing you happen to like?
    The problem is that practically every Imperial unit is based on arbitrary conveniences, and we often are required to convert between them in our everyday lives (i.e., Which is cheaper--the 30-pack of 12oz beers, or a 3.5 gal. keg-can?).

    So, I see the convenient reasons for Imperial units' origins, but using them all together in our everyday lives simply makes no sense today.

    Learning the Imperial system isn't that difficult, either--really little more difficult than learning an alphabet.
    This argument is terrible, since you're glossing over the fact that the Metric system is much, much easier to learn than Imperial. The intelligence necessary to learn the harder units is irrelevant, and, if anything, a barrier to having a higher percentage of the population understand units.

    I looked and can't find my original source for this, but I read about some countries that use phonetic languages. This means that if you know how to read, write, and speak the alphabet, you will always know how to pronounce and spell newly learned words. Children in these countries often master reading and writing at extremely young ages (4-6) compared to languages in which there are many different rules and exceptions (around 12, poor teachers and Internet lingo notwithstanding).

    By the way, I also live/was born/was raised in the US, so it's not a matter of simply choosing what I'm used to.

  • atari (unregistered) in reply to Belcat
    Belcat:
    Well, let me see, just for mesuring liquids, we have more units than Metric has for the same thing: teaspoon, tablespoon, cups, pints, quarts, gallons

    For Metric, likely you'll only use mililiter and liter. Damm, that sounds so much easier already.

    That depends. Sometimes having more options available makes it easier.

    Belcat:
    Let's try mesurements.. Just the common ones. Imperial: inches, feet, yards, nautical miles, miles. Metric: milimeters, centimeters, meters, kilometers. Still less here, and I can tell you the difference between the metric ones. Can you tell me the difference between the imperial ones without looking it up?

    Yes, I can, as can most people who know the Imperial system.

  • (cs) in reply to danixdefcon5
    danixdefcon5:
    Oh yeah, and the metric system rules!! At least I don't have to learn wacky unit equivalencies (12 inches are a feet? huh?) Everything in the metric system is ... well... metric. (Base 10).

    So you're saying people from metric-using countries can't do basic math? 12 inches in a foot, 36 inches in a yard, 5280 feet in a mile, etc, etc.... ;) <duck>

    Inches, centimeters don't make much different to me, but beer can only be served properly by the pint.... Screw your stupid liters or milliliters.

    I do wish us Americans still used "stone" to weigh things. It just sounds better to say I weigh 14 stone than I'm pushing 200 lbs...

    -Me

  • (cs) in reply to mkb
    mkb:
    orangeyoda:
    The religious nuts the English pushed off Plymouth docks, went to America. Where else do they worship a Turkey?

    The parent poster will kindly note that we did NOT take Benjamin Franklin's suggestion of the wild turkey as our national emblem.

    But imagine if we did... We'd all dig in to some roasted bald eagle in November. Who knows, bald eagle might be the best tasting bird there is....

    -Me

  • Harsh (unregistered) in reply to European
    European:
    PS:
    Another post about that Europe place. If they don't speak English then how do you expect them to understand the correct usage of commas and decimal points. I do understand that those Europe people probably need the comma between the dollars and the cents because they probably need a small pause between the dollars and the cents to sing a few lines from "The Final Countdown".

    You, Moron!! The same way you don't fucking use the bloody metrical system (inches... measured from a King's hand... ha!) we use diverse decimal separators. And also use something different from you: the BRAIN!

    BTW, start mocking other nations when yours get something like a decent history... At least, our forefathers weren't outcasts come from England's jails ¬¬

    (captcha: darwin.... and guys like this not being at darwinawards.com ¬¬)

    Whoa! Name calling. That makes you sound REALLY smart. Us stupid fat Americans. We have no history and maybe we came from criminals. It's funny how everyone attacks America. I will be fat and happy. You can be pissed all the time about whatever it is that day that upsets you.

  • (cs) in reply to Anonymous
    Anonymous:
    In modern times, there is only one reason we Americans keep using the imperial system (yes, I was born and raised, and continue to live in the U.S.): Because we're stubborn!

    I have to disagree with that... Back in the '70s when I was in elementary school there was a huge push to teach us all the metric system. America would be metric in a generation.... So they took all these kids that were still learning addition and subtraction and tried to teach us conversion formulas..... Stupid, stupid stupid. If Johnny is still working on 123 + 456 + 789, he sure as hell won't understand (°F - 32) / 1.8 = °C

    They should have dumped the conversion, given us a metric ruler, thermometer, etc and started using them....

    -Me

  • (cs) in reply to Mikademus
    Mikademus:
    I know exactly the fraction of my handspan a decimetre has or the amount of mu height a metre is.
    Then you're weird, and shouldn't consider yourself a representative example of anything.
  • (cs)

    What a long boring argument about whether metric or English system is better. You would think that on this forum of all places everyone would understand that the superior measurement system uses only multiples evenly divisible by 16. --Rank

  • dkf (unregistered) in reply to Veinor
    Veinor:
    Oh, and I suppose everybody uses the peck, bushel, rod, link, chain, gill, hogshead, dram, and stick then?
    The dram and gill are vital! Without those, how can you think to purchase whisky?
  • (cs) in reply to Zylon
    Zylon:
    Mikademus:
    I know exactly the fraction of my handspan a decimetre has or the amount of mu height a metre is.
    Then you're weird, and shouldn't consider yourself a representative example of anything.

    Hey, what's up with the namecalling ? As a matter of fact, from the tip of my thumb to the tip of my little finger (pinky? - who knows?) I can span just about 20cm when my fingers are fully extended. A meter is just about a step length (actually slightly shorter, but for short distances it's accurate enough). My shoes are 27cm long - about 4 on a meter.

    Really, convenience is no argument for using imperial units.

    Unfortunately, what is lacking is the will to change.

  • (cs)

    if (currentValue<0||currentValue>(decimal.Parse(maxValue, culture))) //m { // ... }

    Ha! After such brillant code for localizing a numeric constant, the coder fails to localize the comments! Imagine the confuse of a maintainer who only understands "// ,,,"!

    --Rank

  • Localized (unregistered) in reply to Rank Amateur

    The true WTF about the imperical system is that water freezes at 32 degrees...

    CAPTCHA: ninjas - wondering what kind of system they use?

  • Jaws (unregistered) in reply to Gijs

    Weird workaround we've had to implement when generating CSV for Excel import in a multi-country European environment: encode decimals as fractions. The result of importing "1.3" depends on locale settings, Excel settings, phase of the Moon etc., but "13/10" always results in "1 plus 3 thirds".

    Well, almost always. Not sure about Pentiums.

  • yet another Alex (unregistered) in reply to f@
    f@:
    mrprogguy:
    There are lots of reasons not to use the Metric system, the first of which being that there's too many units that no one actually uses. For example, the decimeter.
    wayne:
    You gave exactly no reason against the metric system

    Um... I counted at least one reason in that quote...

    That sounded suspiciously like "Where are all the Gators' fans now? Why aren't they calling"

    Captcha - "RIAA"

  • Jaws (unregistered) in reply to Jaws

    Correction: make the above "always results in 1 plus 3 tenths". Should not post while multiplexing between three IM sessions.

  • pointer (unregistered) in reply to welcor
    welcor:
    As a matter of fact, from the tip of my thumb to the tip of my little finger (pinky? - who knows?) I can span just about 20cm when my fingers are fully extended. A meter is just about a step length (actually slightly shorter, but for short distances it's accurate enough). My shoes are 27cm long - about 4 on a meter.

    Really, convenience is no argument for using imperial units.

    Unfortunately, what is lacking is the will to change.

    Who cares about "abouts"? My pinky finger is exactly 3 inches (well, at least so on every ruler I've used), with each segment exactly 1 inch. And my foot is exactly 1 foot (12 inches) long.

    In regard to the overall debate, sometimes metric units are better, and sometimes Imperial units are better. I just wish the out-of-country visitors would learn that a speed limit of 45mph is faster than 45kmph!!

  • !Z (unregistered) in reply to mrprogguy

    There are lots of reasons not to use the Metric system, the first of which being that there's too many units that no one actually uses. For example, the decimeter. No one actually uses the decimeter.

    It's a metre btw, not a 'meter' - 'meters' measure things. like a 'multimeter' or an 'odometer'. Metre is a measure of distance.

    Also, decimetre, centimetre, etc are not different units. They are just multipliers of metre. It's not like inches and feet and furlongs which are totally different, if related units.

    I might also add that centimetre, although in common usage (and decimetre, in not so common usage), is not a SI (International System of Units) unit which is used in science and engineering - although having said that, the system is simple and totally consistent, and either can easily be dealt with.

    Learning imperial isn't harder than metric? Oh surely you jest. How many 5/8th of an inch in a mile (don't even get me started on the US's propensity to prefer fractions to decimal numbers)? How many fluid ounces in a pint? Gallon? Is that a 'Standard' gallon, or an 'Imperial' gallon? etc. Ounces in a tonne? Is that a troy ounce or a standard ounce?

    Infact there are simply no technical reasons not to use the metric system - it makes just too much sense. Only ecominical and political ones.

    Anyway, back to the topic - localisation is quite difficult without learning quite a lot of extra stuff you simply don't come across if you're just coding for your local environment. And the .NET documentation is absolutely attrocious - maybe that is the 'real wtf'.

  • Ash (unregistered)

    if (culture.NumberFormat.CurrencyDecimalSeparator == ",") { maxValue = "999999,99"; } else { maxValue = "999999.99"; }

    if (currentValue<0||currentValue>(decimal.Parse(maxValue, culture))) //m { // ... }

    PROFIT!!!

    captcha: Craaazy. Yes, I am.

  • Miles Gray (unregistered) in reply to warren
    warren:
    The Real WTF is that "System.Globalization" uses United States-centric spelling!

    Hmm.. way i figure it, if just about every single one of the major computer (hardware or sofware) vendor companies is based in the United States they get to choose how to spell Globalization. (I believe its spelt "i18n" no?)

    Think about it, IBM, HP, Sun, Microsoft, Apple, Dell, Cisco. Sure there's SAP and Linux and a few others of course, but really the computer business started in the States so when stuff is arbitrary its reasonable for them to choose. Consider youself lucky that there is a dang System.Globalization name space at all cretin ;-)

    (Speaking as a NZer, home to erm, 0, major computer companies).

  • a/c (unregistered)

    Guys it doesn't flipping matter. If you're used to one system, that system is easier for you to use. What a surprise.

  • Newt (unregistered) in reply to European

    wow, someone is bitter....

  • Newt (unregistered) in reply to wayne

    hmm...because we already know it...sounds like a pretty good reason.

    It's like asking, why doesn't all of Europe start speaking <blank> since it would make inter-communication so much easier. Well, because people already are comfortable with their native tongue.

  • Miral (unregistered) in reply to Belcat
    Belcat:
    Well, let me see, just for mesuring liquids, we have more units than Metric has for the same thing: teaspoon, tablespoon, cups, pints, quarts, gallons

    For Metric, likely you'll only use mililiter and liter. Damm, that sounds so much easier already.

    Actually, not quite. Spoons and cups are still used in metric for recipes, although pretty much only there. But they're not official metric units, just a convenience.

    They're defined in metric terms, however: 1 teaspoon = 5mL 1 cup = 250mL

    Tablespoon is a little trickier. Some countries define it as three teaspoons (15mL) while others define it as four teaspoons (20mL).

  • Scottford (unregistered) in reply to !Z
    !Z:
    Infact there are simply no technical reasons not to use the metric system - it makes just too much sense. Only ecominical and political ones.

    True, but the economic reasons are substantial. Houses are built out of standard-length 2x4s, 8' wallboard, etc. Homeowners are not screaming for 2.4384 meter ceilings.

  • (cs) in reply to mkb
    mkb:
    ...Unfortunately for them, the firmware was written half in assembly, and all the function names were in French! HA HA!...
    I'll bet the comments, test-plans and documentation were in French also.
  • underdownunder (unregistered) in reply to mrprogguy
    mrprogguy:
    There are lots of reasons not to use the Metric system, the first of which being that there's too many units that no one actually uses. For example, the decimeter. No one actually uses the decimeter.
    Actually, when building or constructing something together with my father, we sometimes use decimeter. But then, in Austria generally, we also use the decagram. And let us not forget the inevitable "one decimeter cubed equals one liter" ;-)
    mrprogguy:
    [...]When was the last time you saw something listed in megameters?
    Never, as ten to the sixth or thousands of kilometers are just so much more convenient. ;-) But Megawatt (MW or 10^6 W) are really common.
    mrprogguy:
    [...]Learning the Imperial system isn't that difficult, either--really little more difficult than learning an alphabet.
    I guess so... once one gets all those crooked conversion factors into ones head ;-) Still, the metric is easier in this regard: just learn the prefixes once and apply to whatever unit you have at hand (if you must and can't remember the special term).
    mrprogguy:
    Since I have training in the sciences, I know both the Imperial and Metric systems--which I believe, under your qualifications, means I have a brain. Maybe more of a brain than you Metric-only goons.
    Point taken.

    Cheers! (whatever you measure your pint with ;-D)

  • (cs) in reply to Macgyver
    Macgyver:
    I can't think of any reason to use a string. I mean, he/she obviously brought currentValue in as a decimal, so why not just set maxValue as a decimal as well, it's already essentially a constant. Or assign it a value in a bundle dependent on the language in use on the machine. Then you wouldn't have to worry about whether or not a comma or decimal was there.
    That's why the code snippet got posted here in the first place.
  • (cs) in reply to Mogri
    Mogri:
    European:
    You, Moron!! The same way you don't fucking use the bloody metrical system (inches... measured from a King's hand... ha!) we use diverse decimal separators. And also use something different from you: the BRAIN!

    BTW, start mocking other nations when yours get something like a decent history... At least, our forefathers weren't outcasts come from England's jails ¬¬

    (captcha: darwin.... and guys like this not being at darwinawards.com ¬¬)

    Count the English errors! I see five...

    Don't you mean "I see a quarter-score?"

  • (cs) in reply to Veinor
    Veinor:
    mrprogguy:
    There are lots of reasons not to use the Metric system, the first of which being that there's too many units that no one actually uses.

    Oh, and I suppose everybody uses the peck, bushel, rod, link, chain, gill, hogshead, dram, and stick then?

    Nasa still measures sub-light speeds in furlongs/fortnight.

  • (cs) in reply to danixdefcon5
    danixdefcon5:
    Brit:
    iceburg:
    I may be missing something, but why are globalization settings set by CurrentThread? Are they worried one thread might be in a different country than another?

    Absolutely, what with this new fangled web thing...

    ... In Soviet Russia, threads run YOU!!!!

    Soviet Russia ?!? What is this - isn't the Russian President called Vladimir Putin and not Vladimir Lenin ?

    Or did we all miss a revolution there in the past few days ?

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