swh@hpsmtc1.HP.COM (Steve Harrold) (11/06/87)
Re: Order of date components The claim is made that dates are written (for computer display and input) in an awkward sorting order (i.e. mm/dd/yy) because most people write them that way and would not want to change. Let's not be so parochial as to believe that "most" people are only American people. There are lots of other people out there who have different ideas about how a date should be displayed. In fact, there are so many opinions on the matter, isn't there an ISO standard stating that the "correct" display format is 19XX MM DD? --------------------- Steve Harrold ...hplabs!hpsmtc1!swh HPG200/13 (408) 447-5580 ---------------------
roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith) (11/07/87)
In article <11630005@hpsmtc1.HP.COM> swh@hpsmtc1.HP.COM (Steve Harrold) writes: > ISO standard stating that the "correct" display format is 19XX MM DD? Boy, talk about built-in obsolescence! What's going to happen in another 12 years and 2 months? -- Roy Smith, {allegra,cmcl2,philabs}!phri!roy System Administrator, Public Health Research Institute 455 First Avenue, New York, NYBUFSAAA
jay@ncspm.UUCP (11/09/87)
In article <3013@phri.UUCP> roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith) writes: >In article <11630005@hpsmtc1.HP.COM> swh@hpsmtc1.HP.COM (Steve Harrold) writes: >> ISO standard stating that the "correct" display format is 19XX MM DD? > > Boy, talk about built-in obsolescence! What's going to happen in >another 12 years and 2 months? And what about in 112 years and three months when all those electronic calendars decide that 2100 is a leap year? I have yet to see one that doesn't assume that leap years occur EVERY four years. We're really just lucky that the next NN00 year happens to be one in which the NN is evenly divisible by four. Yeah, I know, the e-calendars will all be replaced by then 2100. And what about in 8012 years when the five digit years start? It's never too early to plan for the future. This reminds me of all the software written for addresses with five-digit ZIP codes, and that tries to make two-letter abbreviations out of names of countries. I've seen computer-printed mail returned to the university with addresses like: Johann Deutsch Bonn, WG 00000 -- ------------------------------------------------------------------- Jay Smith uucp: ...!mcnc!ncsuvx!ncspm!jay Domain: jay@ncspm.ncsu.edu internet: jay%ncspm@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu
roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith) (11/10/87)
In article <501@ncspm.ncsu.edu> jay@ncspm.UUCP (Jay Smith) writes: > And what about in 112 years and three months when all those electronic > calendars decide that 2100 is a leap year? I have yet to see one that > doesn't assume that leap years occur EVERY four years. Unix's "cal" command knows about the "if it's divisible by 4, except if it's divisible by 100 but not by 400" rule. Try "cal 2 2100" (or "cal 9 1752" for trivia buffs). I don't suppose those $2.99 LCD clock/calendars are so sophisticated, however. -- Roy Smith, {allegra,cmcl2,philabs}!phri!roy System Administrator, Public Health Research Institute 455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016