fmt

I like variables with units. Since dimensionally typed computation isn’t reasonably possible in JavaScript due—probably for the better—to a lack of operator overloading, I think it’s nice to include units in variable names, e.g. delay_seconds or delay_s. That can get a little unwieldy. density_kg_per_m3? G_m3_per_kg_s2? Perhaps when presentation is a priority, a more modest goal is to label units where values are defined. When using Observable, I often append units in comments, e.g. delay = 10 // seconds, but comments get hidden with the cell input:

Usage

Use on observablehq.com by importing from @rreusser/fmt:

import { fmt } from '@rreusser/fmt'

In its simplest form, it passes a single value through a tagged template and styles it like an Observable output.

In order to access the value, you’ll need to use Observable Desktop’s `view` keyword. Since Observable doesn’t permit reflection on the cell content which would allow determining the name of the assigned variable, this means we need to duplicate the name.

The value is shown in the inspector theme color (purple in Observable Desktop, green on the web) and content to the right of it is colored gray.