3 ms·
Once you've built a system that understands timezones and offsets from UTC, does it really add all that much complexity to support offsets that are not whole mu
by azernik 12y ago
Once you've built a system that understands timezones and offsets from UTC, does it really add all that much complexity to support offsets that are not whole multiples of half hours or hours?
- riobard 12y ago"Once you've built a system that understands timezones and offsets from UTC" I think that's the point he's complaining about: it's damn hard to build such a system because of the artificially induced complexity.
- brudgers 12y agoIt's the simplicity that's artificial. Noon is a local event that occurs when the sun is due south. Timezones and standardized times are the abstractions.
- dragonwriter 12y ago> Noon is a local event that occurs when the sun is due south. "When the sun lies neither east nor west of a particular point on the surface of the Earth." At least, if you want "noon" to be something that happens everywhere on Earth.
- dllthomas 12y agoEverywhere but two points, anyway...
- icebraining 12y agoBut the "natural noon" you described is more simple than the timezones with DST that might or might not happen depending on who was elected locally and nationally. A system where noon is regulated by a single, immutable equation describing the position of the Earth vis-à-vis the Sun would be much easier to implement.