= STICK

  http://rubyforge.org/projects/stick

STICK stands for Scientific Code Kit. It's main feature is the
a sophisticated SI units system. It also includes a large
set of natural constants and some extensions for the Matrix
class.


== Installation

You can install via Rubygems

    gem install stick

or via tarball

    tar -xzf stick-x.y.z.tar.gz
    cd stick
    sudo task/setup

(on Windows 'ruby task/setup')


== Usage

=== Units System

Here are some examples of using the units system.

    reqiure 'stick/units'

    1.bit/s + 8.bytes/s
    (1.bit/s).to(byte/s)
    1.mile.to(feet)
    1.acre.to(yd**2)
    1.acre.to(sq_yd)
    1.gallon.to(self.L)
    1.lb.to(kg)
    1.m.s.to(m.s)
    1.sq_mi.to(km**2)
    1.mile.to(km)
    1.usd.to(twd)

The Units is namespace for all unit related classes. Mixing this in has
the additional effect of making Units.with_unit_converter available
without the <code>Units.</code> prefix, as well as the shortcuts for
creating Units (see Units#method_missing).


=== Constants

Also included are a large assortment of real world contants. These come in two
varieties, typeless and typed via units.rb. (PLEASE NOTE: The typed variety is not
yet complete).

Constants are also provided in both mks (m kg s) and in cgs (cm g s) format.

    require 'stick/constants/typeless_mks'
    require 'stick/constants/typeless_cgs'

    include Stick::Constants::Typeless

    MKS::SPEED_OF_LIGHT              #=> 2.99792458e8
    CGS::SPEED_OF_LIGHT              #=> 2.99792458e10

Big thanks to Daniel Carrera and Brian Gough for their original work on Math::Constants
from which the typeless numbers derive.


=== Extensions to the Ruby's Matrix

Also included are Matrix extensions by Cosmin Bonchis, which was done as a Google Summer of
Code 2007 project for Ruby Central Inc.

The library consists of some enhancements to the Ruby "Matrix" module and includes:
LU and QR (Householder, Givens, Gram Schmidt, Hessenberg) decompositions, bidiagonalization,
eigenvalue and eigenvector calculations.

This library is contatined in stick/matrix.rb, which also draws upon stick/mapcar.rb.

This code can also be found on RubyForge at http://rubyforge.org/project/matrix.


== Authors/Contributors

* Peter Vanbroekhoven
* Thomas Sawyer
* Cosmin Bonchis
* Daniel Carrera
* Brian Gough


== License

Copyright 2006-2007 Peter Vanbroekhoven, Thomas Sawyer and Contributors

Ruby/GPL Licensed