F# Units of Measure Ensuring Consistent Units in Calculations
Example
Units of measure are additional type annotations that can be added to floats or integers. They can be used to verify at compile time that calculations are using units consistently.
To define annotations:
[<Measure>] type m // meters
[<Measure>] type s // seconds
[<Measure>] type accel = m/s^2 // acceleration defined as meters per second squared
Once defined, annotations can be used to verify that an expression results in the expected type.
// Compile-time checking that this function will return meters, since (m/s^2) * (s^2) -> m
// Therefore we know units were used properly in the calculation.
let freeFallDistance (time:float<s>) : float<m> =
0.5 * 9.8<accel> * (time*time)
// It is also made explicit at the call site, so we know that the parameter passed should be in seconds
let dist:float<m> = freeFallDistance 3.0<s>
printfn "%f" dist
