bug#15859: 24.3.50; Calc - dimensionless units again

[Roland Winkler]

On Wed, Apr 19 2023, Michael Heerdegen wrote:
> Roland Winkler <winkler@gnu.org> writes:
> I now tried your originally posted examples (1) and (2) with the old
> version of `calc-convert-units' you posted, and they both don't seem to
> work as you wish: (1) errors, it just doesn't ask about the old units
> before that, and case (2) is also simplified to a plain number.

It may help if you repost the old example from this long thread that you
are refering to.

For me, the essential difference between "old" and "new"
calc-convert-units is that the new version tries to fix a problem that
doesn't exist in the first place.  (It is perfectly fine that a user may
want to feed an expression into calc-convert-units where the combination
of units yields a plane number like (a multiple of) the fine structure
constant.  It is ridiculous if calc-convert-units first wants to give
such an expression a new unit like kg or m^3.

There are probably corner cases where the old (!) code can still be
improved.  But I've given up regarding the new code which, in my
experience, has no base to improve upon unless you first revert it.

This may sound like a harsh judgement, but this endless thread really
has made me tired.

I am just curious: how did you get interested in this bug that was
dormant for the longest time, and where it always seemed to me I was
the only one annoyed by it?