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> 1. I've set my alarm for 8am local time every day. I don't want my alarm clock to go off at 3am just because I'm in a different country Without timezone, you

by magnio 3y ago

> 1. I've set my alarm for 8am local time every day. I don't want my alarm clock to go off at 3am just because I'm in a different country Without timezone, your clock would actually go off in the middle of the night when you are in a different country. Your clock does not know you change location (no timezone, no location-dependent time), so it will alarm you after exactly 24 hours since the last alarm, which, in another country, can be midnight. > 2. If I have an appointment at 10am next November, that's actually a datetime with a locale (given that my appointment is at 10am local time, no matter whether the DST rules change between now and then). If everyone is staying in your city, then that works great (sans catastrophic continental riff or meteorite strike). When at any point you involve more than one geographic location, then the appointment is meaningless without timezones. Now, maybe it is actually the case that you and your software only care about one geographic location in perpetuity, but just like assuming 32-bit IP addresses, 8-bit ASCII, and length-oblivious arrays are all you need, the teeth marks from its consequential bite tend to be quite deep and sanguine.

thaumasiotes 3y ago
> Without timezone, your clock would actually go off in the middle of the night when you are in a different country. Your clock does not know you change location This does not describe any modern person's experience. Your clock is connected to the internet; it always knows the local time.
ndriscoll 3y ago
You're missing the point. Evaluating the rule requires a timezone, but the rule itself is not defined with reference to a specific timezone (well, the second one is assuming you can use something like PT that changes between PST and PDT throughout the year). To define the first rule requires a zoneless time.
remram 3y ago
> Without timezone, your clock would actually go off in the middle of the night when you are in a different country Your clock would do what your clock is programmed to do. What a weird statement to make about a completely hypothetical tool.

by magnio 3y ago

thaumasiotes 3y ago

> Without timezone, your clock would actually go off in the middle of the night when you are in a different country. Your clock does not know you change location This does not describe any modern person's experience. Your clock is connected to the internet; it always knows the local time.

ndriscoll 3y ago

You're missing the point. Evaluating the rule requires a timezone, but the rule itself is not defined with reference to a specific timezone (well, the second one is assuming you can use something like PT that changes between PST and PDT throughout the year). To define the first rule requires a zoneless time.

remram 3y ago

> Without timezone, your clock would actually go off in the middle of the night when you are in a different country Your clock would do what your clock is programmed to do. What a weird statement to make about a completely hypothetical tool.