4 ms·
I get it, it's really annoying that there are different formats. In fact I once nerfed a small database by importing a bunch dates from a csv in the wrong form
by jacknews 4y ago
I get it, it's really annoying that there are different formats.
In fact I once nerfed a small database by importing a bunch dates from a csv in the wrong format.
But honestly both formats (M/D/Y and D/M/Y) are wrong, as clear from the clock example: dates should be big-endian; Y/M/D.
- dreen 4y agoI say whatever floats your boat. Which I guess could be pound-force (lbf).
- chewbacha 4y agoIso8601 for the win!
- l- 4y ago2023-03-25=1995
- crote 4y agoOnly for dates. It is horribly broken once you start involving timezones.
- cratermoon 4y agoWhat isn't horribly broken once you start involving timezones? Also daylight saving (summer) time. What else?
- akvadrako 4y agoNot if you always use UTC; just stick a Z on the end and be done with it.
- wscott 4y agoI am kinda shocked no one has posted this yet: https://xkcd.com/1179/ https://xkcd.com/1179/
- jstanley 4y agoWhile I agree that big-endian dates are the best solution (if nothing else, because lexical sort puts it in the right order), I think little-endian at least makes sense. The middle-endian format is just absurd.
- jffry 4y ago> lexical sort puts it in the right order For a few thousand more years, sure!
- 7oi 4y agoAh, the dreaded y10k problem. We really should start planning for that.
- downvotetruth 4y agoAD > BC(E) & 2 BC(E) is before 1 BC(E)
- tomgp 4y agoBut BCE comes before CE
- kaladin-jasnah 4y agoTo be honest, using date formats in Asian languages (Korean/Japanese/Chinese) is probably the best. There is zero confusion, as the word for "month," "day," or "year" proceeds the numbers directly: 2023년 3월 25일 in Korean, or 2023年3月25日 in Chinese (and Japanese?).
- Steltek 4y ago> proceeds the numbers JSYK, a more native phrasing would be "follows the numbers". "Proceeds" would be too easily confused for "precedes".
- koheripbal 4y agoYes, but the confusion caused by not knowing which way your writing it makes both ways worthless (unless your audience is strictly IN or OUT of the US - OR - if one number is greater than 12). It's annoying, and I just ALWAYS use YYYY-MM-DD, and everyone is happy. Please join my cause. If there's one thing we can all agree makes the world just a little better, it's using YYYY-MM-DD to get people used to it.
- Pxtl 4y agoSlash means "of". D/M/Y or Y-M-D. Hell, the weird American "write it like you say it month dayeth of year" would be fine if they didn't use slashes. Sure it doesn't sort well but at least it wouldn't be ambiguous. Nobody would be confused if today was written 03-25/2023.
- mikewarot 4y agoSlash is just a separator. We're weird here in the US.
- dragonwriter 4y ago> Slash means "of". No, it doesn't. I mean, in certain contexts it can, but it doesn't exclusively in general, any more than it means “and/or” exclusively in general (though, it does mean “and/or” in “and/or” which probably isn’t something you should think about too much.) It can just be a separator, as it is in American dates.
- Pxtl 4y agoFair point about and/or, but there's still a consistent pattern to that usage - also he/she, etc. I'm having trouble coming up with cases besides US dates where it isn't used to mean one of these two things: "of": like one half (1/2) meaning one of two, or km/h meaning kilometers per hour, or page 14/55. In these contexts it means something within something else. In both cases there's the strong mathematical connotation of a numerator and a denominator. "or": like in and/or or he/she. The symbol has clear connotations, and the American date-format deviates from those.
- mianm 4y agoThey are both "wrong" compared to big-endian, but M/D/Y is by far the least logical of the three formats. M/D/Y should never be a default for any software without the user explicitly selecting it or specifying their country.
- vehemenz 4y agoWhat do you mean by "wrong?" And why should logic trump practicality? Besides, rightness and wrongness are value judgments. They have nothing to do with logic. M/D/Y seems to be the most practical because it reflects how dates are spoken in American English. It separates the date (month/day) from the year, which in many cases can be omitted, while also keeping the larger unit, the month, up front.
- mianm 4y ago"wrong" was in reference to the post being replied to. The majority of English speakers and people in general don't speak American English, so it makes zero sense to default to "M/D/Y", unless the user explicitly states to use American English, over a more logical order, ideally Y-M-D. Pretty much all defence in this thread of M/D/Y is just American exceptionalism.
- nerdponx 4y agoYYYY-MM-DD is also abbreviated as MM-DD. As for practicality, I don't think closely mirroring English grammar makes it any more practical for written communication.
- activitypea 4y agoI'd much rather have D/M/Y, since then data is ordered by relevance. If I'm seeing a full date, I probably care more about the day than the month, and more about the month than the year. This is just pure bikeshedding tho, both are infinitely better than M/D/Y
- czbond 4y agoI agree with you. Year is least likely to change, then month, so you can pay attention to D, and scan M/Y which I feel takes less attention than other formats
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- l0b0 4y agoRelevance changes by which time scale you're looking at. If you're looking at the last month, the day is most important. If you're looking at last year, month is probably most important. And for anything beyond a year, year is obviously most important.
- mihaaly 4y agoI grew up in a big endian culture and I cannot agree more with your last sentence.
- fanagra32 4y agoI tend to do important things in the second half of the month. That way, you don't get an ambiguous 10/09/22 but a less ambiguous 10/17/22. Everybody still needs to be aware which year we are talking about, but you tend to just write day and month anyway, so 10/09 is bad while 10/17 is obvious.
- trialect 4y agoYeah.. the hungarians are F-ed as usual: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_and_time_notation_in_Hungary https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_and_time_notation_in_Hung...