Re: RFC 48 (v2) Replace localtime() and gmtime() with da

[Nathan Wiger]

> Adding support for (modified) Julian Date will be much more
> generic and remove dependency on unix epoch with little
> extra code.

To me, the real question is which date() should we use:

   $date = date $seconds_since_epoch;   # uses time()
   $date = date $modified_julian_date;  # non-Unix

If we can make it work, the second one seems a lot more
platform-independent. After all, the epoch has no meaning to those on
Macs, PCs, or BeOS machines (except maybe historical trivia).

Are we agreed that date() should now be based on Julian date? Here's the
advantages:

   1. Unix-independent (yeah, I love Unix, but...)

   2. Allows easy date arithmetic (complex -> module)

And here's the disadvantages:

   1. Unix time() no longer the basis for date

Although that really isn't a disadvantage, just a difference.

-Nate