On Tue, 30 Dec 2003 01:34:42 +0000, Colin Watson wrote: > On Mon, Dec 29, 2003 at 10:01:07AM -0500, Paul Morgan wrote: >> On Sun, 28 Dec 2003 01:21:12 +0000, Colin Watson wrote: >> > On Sat, Dec 27, 2003 at 05:39:16AM -0500, Paul Morgan wrote: >> >> On Sat, 27 Dec 2003 00:50:16 +0000, Ken Gilmour wrote: >> >> > I believe the Americans do it backwards... 1/04/2004 being >> >> > January 4th rather than 1st of April :-). >> >> >> >> Who's doing it backwards depends, I guess, on your point of view. >> > >> > Both "4th January 2004" and "January 4th 2004" are clear; "2004/01/04" >> > is clear, and sorts well; "04/01/2004" is sadly ambiguous due to the >> > prevalence of the US date format but at least has the benefit of being >> > in a rational order (i.e. not middle-endian). "01/04/2004" just has >> > nothing to recommend it at all. >> > >> > I guess it's a religious war, but for once the superior options seem >> > technically obvious. >> >> My point was that neither is "backwards". Dates are no different than any >> other language element. Americans usually say, "January fourth, two >> thousand three" and so they write their dates that way. Brits tend to say >> "Fourth of January...". It's simply dialect stretching back centuries, >> and nothing to do with date sorting on computers. > > You're talking about "4th of January", etc. I'm talking about the > meaning of "01/04/2004". Apples and oranges. If you're going to write > your dates in an abbreviated form subject to ambiguity then you should > pick a rational abbreviated form.
Then, when I'm in the US, I will pick mm/dd/yy, which is obviously the rational choice, based on US custom and usage. When I'm in the UK, I will choose dd/mm/yy, for the same reasons. Custom and usage comes from shorthand based on the spoken language, as I've already indicated. It would be *irrational* to use dd/mm/yy within the context of US culture. As I said in my original post, "backwards" depends on your viewpoint. >> In any case, software should adapt to the user, not the other way >> around. > > This has nothing to do with software. The exact same problem arises on > paper forms. Well, now you're moving the goalposts. However, neither the US nor the UK date shorthand is responsible for poor form design. If I'm filling out a date on a form, and the form doesn't specify the date format, I use the three-letter abbreviation for the month. Now, *that's* rational :) -- ....................paul It's working as coded. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
