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  3. A new date standard?

A new date standard?

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  • K kalberts

    The year value -1 should have tipped you off. If a date value is initialized to all 1 bits, and you interpret it as numeric subfields, 111...11 is -1. So the year comes out as -1. Now for the month, nubered from 0 and upwards, January is month 0. -1 is the month before that, which is December. We go on to the date field: 0 is the first day of the month, and -1 is one day earlier. We were in December, and go one day back: That brings us to November 30th. Which is the value that you've got. Date -1 of month -1 of year -1 comes out formatted exactly the way you saw it. I think it would have been more correct if the year was -0002: Like the date -1 pulls the month from December back to November, the month -1 should have pulled the year back to -0002. I read an article about this a few weeks ago (now I pity that I didn't save the URL!) telling that one of the most widespread libraries used for formatting in the *nix world doesn't do that; it gives exactly the value 30-11--0001 for an input of all bits set.

    Sander RosselS Offline
    Sander RosselS Offline
    Sander Rossel
    wrote on last edited by
    #30

    That's amazing work, Sherlock! :laugh: It never even occurred to me that the year was negative, I just assumed someone mistyped -- instead of -

    Best, Sander sanderrossel.com Continuous Integration, Delivery, and Deployment arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript Object-Oriented Programming in C# Succinctly

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    • Sander RosselS Sander Rossel

      So I'm at this web shop and they have a product which is expected on "30-11--0001" (for Americans, that's the logical order of day-month--year). That's a pretty weird date, I'd expect 01-01-0001 or 01-01-1970 or even 01-01-1753 (the SQL min value), but never 30-11... The extra dash between the month and the year bothers me too, that's not a standard notation anywhere as far as I know. The best part though, is that I can pre-order the product, so apparently 30-11--0001 is a date in the future! And to make it worse, it's a best selling product, so they've already sold plenty. I can only draw one conclusion from all of this: this web shop is centuries, if not millennia, ahead of us (or at least they serve time travellers)! :omg: Is your software Y10K proof? :rolleyes:

      Best, Sander sanderrossel.com Continuous Integration, Delivery, and Deployment arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript Object-Oriented Programming in C# Succinctly

      B Offline
      B Offline
      Bassam Abdul Baki
      wrote on last edited by
      #31

      For RTL sorting DD-MM-YYYY makes sense. Not sure about the extra dash.

      Web - BM - RSS - Math - LinkedIn

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      • M maze3

        I wait for when the relative date format becomes universal. Past, Now, Future. The is no value of things that happened in the past. Why waste time on when it was. Any event in the future either will or will not happen. When it happens it will be now. Now is the only time to focus on. (I have been on a bit of mental self actualisation last weekend)

        Sander RosselS Offline
        Sander RosselS Offline
        Sander Rossel
        wrote on last edited by
        #32

        You got my vote. No more time zones, leap years, leap seconds, summer time, etc. :thumbsup: And the DateTime object could simply be an enum type :D

        Best, Sander sanderrossel.com Continuous Integration, Delivery, and Deployment arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript Object-Oriented Programming in C# Succinctly

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        • Sander RosselS Sander Rossel

          W∴ Balboos wrote:

          YYYYMMDD

          But the year is probably the digit you're LEAST interested in... Sorting is only an issue when you're using strings as dates, which you shouldn't, as all languages I know sort dates correctly :rolleyes:

          Best, Sander sanderrossel.com Continuous Integration, Delivery, and Deployment arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript Object-Oriented Programming in C# Succinctly

          W Offline
          W Offline
          W Balboos GHB
          wrote on last edited by
          #33

          Sander Rossel wrote:

          Sorting is only an issue when you're using strings as dates,

          Or even an 8-digit int. But that's besides the point. The pompous overbearing Euro-gang, demanding everyone adopt their standards. The demands are no less significant then demanding we all speak the official ISO stipulated language. I could come up with ever so many reasons to justify the US standard, like if one were starting a sentence, one would not have to use a digit, or spell out the day. But WTF's the difference. Except for computer sorts where a date object is not the target, it comes do to arbitrary human customs. Lunar calendars exist too. Not a jab at you, but I'm glad my ancestors left that continent. It seems to be old, tired, and trying to reclaim relevance by force* that it cannot do by inspiration. * My Parmesan cheese is made in Argentina - and I prefer it that way. My champagne from NY State; &etc

          Ravings en masse^

          "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein

          "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010

          Sander RosselS 1 Reply Last reply
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          • Sander RosselS Sander Rossel

            You got my vote. No more time zones, leap years, leap seconds, summer time, etc. :thumbsup: And the DateTime object could simply be an enum type :D

            Best, Sander sanderrossel.com Continuous Integration, Delivery, and Deployment arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript Object-Oriented Programming in C# Succinctly

            M Offline
            M Offline
            maze3
            wrote on last edited by
            #34

            The logic calculations: Past > Now > Future Past - Future = Past Future - Future = Future Past - Now = Past Now - Past = Past Now - Future = Now Past * 2Now - (Now + Future) - Past = Grandfather-Paradox

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            • W W Balboos GHB

              Sander Rossel wrote:

              Sorting is only an issue when you're using strings as dates,

              Or even an 8-digit int. But that's besides the point. The pompous overbearing Euro-gang, demanding everyone adopt their standards. The demands are no less significant then demanding we all speak the official ISO stipulated language. I could come up with ever so many reasons to justify the US standard, like if one were starting a sentence, one would not have to use a digit, or spell out the day. But WTF's the difference. Except for computer sorts where a date object is not the target, it comes do to arbitrary human customs. Lunar calendars exist too. Not a jab at you, but I'm glad my ancestors left that continent. It seems to be old, tired, and trying to reclaim relevance by force* that it cannot do by inspiration. * My Parmesan cheese is made in Argentina - and I prefer it that way. My champagne from NY State; &etc

              Ravings en masse^

              "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein

              "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010

              Sander RosselS Offline
              Sander RosselS Offline
              Sander Rossel
              wrote on last edited by
              #35

              W∴ Balboos wrote:

              The pompous overbearing Euro-gang, demanding everyone adopt their standards.

              It seems to me that the only people who do everything differently are United States Americans. I really couldn't care less how you do it, but having one standard for everything (including language, Esperanto, anyone?) would certainly make our jobs easier! Getting 195 countries (or more or less, depending on who you ask, we can't even agree on that) to adopt the same standards is a lost cause though. Maybe for the better, because it's the differences that make us beautiful (except the USA date format, that's just wrong) :D

              W∴ Balboos wrote:

              I'm glad my ancestors left that continent

              Not a jab at you, but so am I ;) (you seem to have a deep rooted issues with Europeans, we're generally nice people though)

              Best, Sander sanderrossel.com Continuous Integration, Delivery, and Deployment arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript Object-Oriented Programming in C# Succinctly

              W 1 Reply Last reply
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              • Sander RosselS Sander Rossel

                W∴ Balboos wrote:

                The pompous overbearing Euro-gang, demanding everyone adopt their standards.

                It seems to me that the only people who do everything differently are United States Americans. I really couldn't care less how you do it, but having one standard for everything (including language, Esperanto, anyone?) would certainly make our jobs easier! Getting 195 countries (or more or less, depending on who you ask, we can't even agree on that) to adopt the same standards is a lost cause though. Maybe for the better, because it's the differences that make us beautiful (except the USA date format, that's just wrong) :D

                W∴ Balboos wrote:

                I'm glad my ancestors left that continent

                Not a jab at you, but so am I ;) (you seem to have a deep rooted issues with Europeans, we're generally nice people though)

                Best, Sander sanderrossel.com Continuous Integration, Delivery, and Deployment arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript Object-Oriented Programming in C# Succinctly

                W Offline
                W Offline
                W Balboos GHB
                wrote on last edited by
                #36

                Sander Rossel wrote:

                (you seem to have a deep rooted issues with Europeans, we're generally nice people though)

                As individuals, I've often found that to be the case - but when you gather together as a mob, not so much. The world's common speech is becoming English. By default, actually. Unlike the French, we don't protect the language from outside influences (they're worried because their language is dying). In real life, the international language of science was "Broken English". Not because it's a better language, but because its accepting. Schadenfreude and Putz - excellent additions to any language. So many other fine words that add flavor. So WTF? The door's open.

                Ravings en masse^

                "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein

                "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010

                1 Reply Last reply
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                • Sander RosselS Sander Rossel

                  So I'm at this web shop and they have a product which is expected on "30-11--0001" (for Americans, that's the logical order of day-month--year). That's a pretty weird date, I'd expect 01-01-0001 or 01-01-1970 or even 01-01-1753 (the SQL min value), but never 30-11... The extra dash between the month and the year bothers me too, that's not a standard notation anywhere as far as I know. The best part though, is that I can pre-order the product, so apparently 30-11--0001 is a date in the future! And to make it worse, it's a best selling product, so they've already sold plenty. I can only draw one conclusion from all of this: this web shop is centuries, if not millennia, ahead of us (or at least they serve time travellers)! :omg: Is your software Y10K proof? :rolleyes:

                  Best, Sander sanderrossel.com Continuous Integration, Delivery, and Deployment arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript Object-Oriented Programming in C# Succinctly

                  B Offline
                  B Offline
                  Bitbeisser
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #37

                  My bet is simply on a lazy programmer who got something wrong in using existing data info...

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                  • M maze3

                    I wait for when the relative date format becomes universal. Past, Now, Future. The is no value of things that happened in the past. Why waste time on when it was. Any event in the future either will or will not happen. When it happens it will be now. Now is the only time to focus on. (I have been on a bit of mental self actualisation last weekend)

                    B Offline
                    B Offline
                    Bitbeisser
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #38

                    So no more birthday presents and cake for you. Also, you don't get paid for the time you came in for work this morning, after all, all that counts is now... ;P

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                    • B Bassam Abdul Baki

                      For RTL sorting DD-MM-YYYY makes sense. Not sure about the extra dash.

                      Web - BM - RSS - Math - LinkedIn

                      B Offline
                      B Offline
                      Bitbeisser
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #39

                      Well, that's better than the stupid MM-DD-YYYY, but the only way you can properly sort is YYYY-MM-DDD

                      B 1 Reply Last reply
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                      • B Bitbeisser

                        Well, that's better than the stupid MM-DD-YYYY, but the only way you can properly sort is YYYY-MM-DDD

                        B Offline
                        B Offline
                        Bassam Abdul Baki
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #40

                        In English yes, but in right-to-left (RTL) languages like Arabic, I think DD-MM-YYYY is the equivalent. Was the language English?

                        Web - BM - RSS - Math - LinkedIn

                        B 1 Reply Last reply
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                        • B Bassam Abdul Baki

                          In English yes, but in right-to-left (RTL) languages like Arabic, I think DD-MM-YYYY is the equivalent. Was the language English?

                          Web - BM - RSS - Math - LinkedIn

                          B Offline
                          B Offline
                          Bitbeisser
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #41

                          I am not aware that the way numbers are written (and hence sorted) are different in those languages. AFAIK, multi digit numbers are actually written at least in Arabic left to right still...

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                          • B Bitbeisser

                            I am not aware that the way numbers are written (and hence sorted) are different in those languages. AFAIK, multi digit numbers are actually written at least in Arabic left to right still...

                            B Offline
                            B Offline
                            Bassam Abdul Baki
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #42

                            As someone who knows Arabic, you are correct. As someone who has never used an Arabic keyboard for sorting, I would assume that sorting follows the language, which in this case is right to left. So DD-MM-YYYY would sort in the order of 78-56-1234 since the numbers are left to right, but higher precedence from right number to left.

                            Web - BM - RSS - Math - LinkedIn

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                            • Mike HankeyM Mike Hankey

                              Now that you mention it I have never seen or read a reference to year 0. Hmmm

                              I may not be that good looking, or athletic, or funny, or talented, or smart I forgot where I was going with this but I do know I love bacon!

                              H Offline
                              H Offline
                              Herbie Mountjoy
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #43

                              The conspiracy theorists probably submit that the Vatican has deliberately done this in order to prevent the masses from learning the truth about whatever it is they might be hiding. We're philosophical about power outages here. A.C. come, A.C. go.

                              Mike HankeyM 1 Reply Last reply
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                              • B Bassam Abdul Baki

                                As someone who knows Arabic, you are correct. As someone who has never used an Arabic keyboard for sorting, I would assume that sorting follows the language, which in this case is right to left. So DD-MM-YYYY would sort in the order of 78-56-1234 since the numbers are left to right, but higher precedence from right number to left.

                                Web - BM - RSS - Math - LinkedIn

                                H Offline
                                H Offline
                                Herbie Mountjoy
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #44

                                In any case, why would you sort a date as a string? We're philosophical about power outages here. A.C. come, A.C. go.

                                K B 2 Replies Last reply
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                                • H Herbie Mountjoy

                                  In any case, why would you sort a date as a string? We're philosophical about power outages here. A.C. come, A.C. go.

                                  K Offline
                                  K Offline
                                  kalberts
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #45

                                  Is that a serious question? Obviously lots of lists and tables have date fields, or an entry is tagged by a date, which is represented as text, not as a binary date object. And frequently, you want to order the entries by date.

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                                  • H Herbie Mountjoy

                                    In any case, why would you sort a date as a string? We're philosophical about power outages here. A.C. come, A.C. go.

                                    B Offline
                                    B Offline
                                    Bassam Abdul Baki
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #46

                                    Like M#### said, folder names, file names, and many other reasons to sort by date. For RTL languages, DD-MM-YYYY is the only way to do so, just like YYYY-MM-DD is for LTR (with or without hyphens).

                                    Web - BM - RSS - Math - LinkedIn

                                    H 1 Reply Last reply
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                                    • H Herbie Mountjoy

                                      The conspiracy theorists probably submit that the Vatican has deliberately done this in order to prevent the masses from learning the truth about whatever it is they might be hiding. We're philosophical about power outages here. A.C. come, A.C. go.

                                      Mike HankeyM Offline
                                      Mike HankeyM Offline
                                      Mike Hankey
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #47

                                      I'm sure, all those lonely knights?

                                      I may not be that good looking, or athletic, or funny, or talented, or smart I forgot where I was going with this but I do know I love bacon!

                                      1 Reply Last reply
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                                      • B Bassam Abdul Baki

                                        Like M#### said, folder names, file names, and many other reasons to sort by date. For RTL languages, DD-MM-YYYY is the only way to do so, just like YYYY-MM-DD is for LTR (with or without hyphens).

                                        Web - BM - RSS - Math - LinkedIn

                                        H Offline
                                        H Offline
                                        Herbie Mountjoy
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #48

                                        Yes. I take your point. My issue is with a recent employer who insisted on storing dates as integers or strings or even decimals in his database. I can't remember seeing a single DateTime or Date object. See where I'm coming from? We're philosophical about power outages here. A.C. come, A.C. go.

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                                        • K kalberts

                                          Mike Hankey wrote:

                                          1 BCE?

                                          or maybe 2 BCE? When Y2K was a hot topic, I was surprised to learn that the church (at least the protestant ones, but I assume that catholic ones agree, and then the other (Christian) ones follow suit) have a discontinuous time line: Year 1 BC is immediately followed by year 1 AD, with no intermediate year 0. So the question is if the time format used here has a year 0. We must assume that value 1 is AD (or if you like: CE), but is a value of 0 then 1 BC, and a value of -1 consequently 2 BC? Or is value 0 illegal? I was surprised to read in Wikipedia that the numerical value of AD/BC and CE are identical, with "400 BCE corresponds to 400 BC" explicitly given as an example. So the CE concept has adopted a discontinuous number line for labeling years. It is kind of curious that in an attempt to mark an independence from religion defined time scales, still we stick to a highly religion defined number line, rather than a mathematical one. Maybe it has to do with the zero being invented by the Arabs, and as we all know, their culture is not quite as we want it to be, so we reject it. What I am now waiting for is some (secular) standard that requires 1 = 3.

                                          I Offline
                                          I Offline
                                          irneb
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #49

                                          Member 7989122 wrote:

                                          zero being invented by the ArabsIndians,

                                          FTFY [Who Invented Zero?](https://www.livescience.com/27853-who-invented-zero.html) At least the first who actually used it as the zero concept we have today, instead of just a placeholder so they didn't confuse themselves when writing down a number.

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