JUGC is a Java library for unit conversions. It allows you to define a set of units and their relationships (a kilogram is a thousand grams, a tonne is a thousand kilograms, etc), translations for those units (gramma is fi_FI for gram), generate a Java library from those units (well, most of the library won't be generated, but the unit definitions will be) and then deploy that library in a project.

So basically you'll go from unit definitions like this:

    <units>
            <unit>
                    <id>fahrenheit</id>
                    <alias>F</alias>
                    <derive>celsius</derive>
                    <from>9 5 / * 32 +</from>
                    <to>32 - 9 5 / /</to>
            </unit>

            <unit>
                    <id>rankine</id>
                    <alias>R</alias>
                    <derive>fahrenheit</derive>
                    <from>459.67 +</from>
            </unit>
    </units>

to converting units like this:

    ConverterFactory.getConverter("celsius", "rankine").convert(42);

And the translation support is pretty simple, too:

    <units>
            <unit>
                    <id>gram</id>
                    <alias>g</alias>
            </unit>

            <unit>
                    <id>kilogram</id>
                    <alias>kg</alias>
                    <derive>gram</derive>
                    <from>1000 /</from>
            </unit>
    </units>

    <unittrans>
            <locale>fi_FI</locale>
            
            <translation>
                    <unit>gram</unit>
                    <trans>gramma</trans>
            </translation>

            <translation>
                    <unit>kilogram</unit>
                    <trans>kilogramma</trans>
            </translation>
    </unittrans>

And then in your code:

    ConverterFactory.getConverter("gramma", "kilogramma", "fi_FI").convert(42);

The conversion expressions are in RPN.

I have yet to make a release and it's not totally finished — it should be possible to ask for the conversions to be done with arbitrary precision math, for instance — but I believe it's pretty usable already.

License: BSD sans advertising clause.

If learning a simple, conceptually mainstream language such as Ruby is too high a price to pay to get away from the madness of Ant and Maven, as it seems to be for some people commenting on Raven, I'm inclined to think you are in the wrong line of work. And Ant and Maven are hardly zero learning curve tools just because the syntax uses XML.

It's possible that Raven (or JRake) isn't the right solution, but the irrational fear evident, for example, in this TheServerSide thread, would be hard to believe if it wasn't just business as usual in the Java world.

Loosely translated, he was talking on the phone:

Look, Johanna, I'm sorry, but I've got a dentist on Monday, and Hannu has a time for an ornithologist [...] I can't help it, I've got a time for an ornithologist and Hannu has an appointment with a dentist.