LISTSERV mailing list manager LISTSERV 16.0

Help for DATETIME Archives


DATETIME Archives

DATETIME Archives


[email protected]


View:

Message:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

By Topic:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

By Author:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

Font:

Proportional Font

LISTSERV Archives

LISTSERV Archives

DATETIME Home

DATETIME Home

DATETIME  September 2012

DATETIME September 2012

Subject:

Re: Minor comments on Draft Submission 13 January 2012

From:

"Ray Denenberg, Library of Congress" <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

Discussion of the Developing Date/Time Standards <[log in to unmask]>

Date:

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 07:59:31 -0400

Content-Type:

text/plain

Parts/Attachments:

Parts/Attachments

text/plain (59 lines)

 From: Rintze Zelle
> Okay, so sorting the dates within square brackets seems to be impossible
> when there are dates with seasons around.

No.  It says:
"When years, months, and seasons are mixed together in a list to be sorted, this specification does not address the sort order, ....."

That doesn't mean you can't do it, it means that it is outside the scope of the spec to say how to, that it is application-specific.

Continuing ...


' ....that is, whether (for example) 2000 is before or after 2000-01, 2000-10, 2000-12, 2000-21, etc. An application may adopt whatever sorting algorithm fits its purpose, thus the value '2000', for purposes of sorting, could be considered to be before 2000-01-01, or after 2000-12-31, or before or after 2000-24, etc. Seasons should sort as Spring < Summer < Autumn < Winter (e.g. "2011-21" should sort before "2011-23"), but applications may choose to sort "2011-21" and "2011-10" either way, or consider them incomparable. '



> A) [1760-12, 1760-01..]
> Should this be read as
> 1) "January or December 1760, or some later month"
> or
> 2 )"December 1760, or some month after January 1760" ?

The second.  See below.


> B) [1760-21..]
> "Spring of 1760 or a later season"
> or
> "Spring of 1760 or a later year"?

The only reasonable interpretation is the first, however I agree that this is not explicitly specified.  I am not going to try to fix this, though, because it would cross the line from minor correction/clarification to substantive change.  I will put it on the list of issues to be addressed in the next phase. 


> C) [1760-06, 1760-21..]
> "June of 1760 or a later year"?

> D) [1760, 1760-2]
> "February of 1760 or later"
> or
> "1760 or later"?


No. The first means, simply, "June of 1760 or Spring of 1760". The second, "the year 1760, or the month February of 1760".  You can say that such examples are non-sensical, and maybe they are, but to disallow all nonsense examples would probably complicate the spec unnecessarily.  (None of these examples is actually included in the spec, as far as I can see.  Yes, they are legal, but the spec does try not to include nonsense examples.)


> I think the specification should either be clear about how to interpret the
> above examples, or simple do not allow them. If the specification stays as
> it is on the topic of sorting, the only way to use square brackets
> unambiguously seems to:
> a) disallow the joined use of year-season dates and the double-dot
> b) require that all dates are of the same precision when the double-dot is
> used With these two requirements, it becomes possible to unambiguously sort
> dates within square brackets and have the double-dot target the last and
> most recent date.

Well, again, I am not sure that the benefit of disallowing them outweighs the complexity of doing so, but this issue can be revisited in the next phase.

--Ray

Top of Message | Previous Page | Permalink

Advanced Options


Options

Log In

Log In

Get Password

Get Password


Search Archives

Search Archives


Subscribe or Unsubscribe

Subscribe or Unsubscribe


Archives

March 2022
August 2019
February 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
January 2018
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
August 2016
July 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
December 2014
November 2014
March 2014
September 2013
May 2013
February 2013
October 2012
September 2012
August 2012
May 2012
March 2012
December 2011
November 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009

ATOM RSS1 RSS2



LISTSERV.LOC.GOV

CataList Email List Search Powered by the LISTSERV Email List Manager