Command-line program to convert 'human' sizes?

[Assaf Gordon]

Hello,

Is there a command-line program (or a recommended way) to expose the coreutil's 
common functionality of converting raw sizes to 'human' sizes and vice versa ?

I'm referring to the "-h" parameter that du/df/sort are accepting, and 
reporting "human" sizes, but also the reverse (where sort's "-G" accepts "40M" 
as valid input).

I found two relevant threads, but no resolution:
http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/coreutils/2011-08/msg00035.html
http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/coreutils/2012-02/msg00088.html

Thanks,
 -gordon