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From: Edward C 
Subject: English style?
Date: 11 Sep 1999 19:39:46
Message: <37dae842@news.povray.org>
How does one write the date in POV source files?  DD/MM/YY, or that
inexplicable style MM/DD/YY?
I can see the logic to the first style, it follows a clear order, but the
second?  Thankfully, I can't recall any modern nation that uses
it.....there's some country between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, but
last I heard, they hadn't even adopted the metric system!  :-P
BTW: It has been mentioned before on this server, that to use two different
styles of English (i.e. English and American) in one publication is very
poor style indeed.  Not only does the parser allow for this kind of nonsense
(why it is bi-lingual I will never know), but the source is full of it.  No,
it doesn't really matter, it's just a little unfortunate.


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From: Ken
Subject: Re: English style?
Date: 11 Sep 1999 19:51:39
Message: <37DAEAA8.ABA0071F@pacbell.net>
"Edward C." wrote:
> 
> How does one write the date in POV source files?  DD/MM/YY, or that
> inexplicable style MM/DD/YY?
> I can see the logic to the first style, it follows a clear order, but the
> second?  Thankfully, I can't recall any modern nation that uses
> it.....there's some country between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, but
> last I heard, they hadn't even adopted the metric system!  :-P
> BTW: It has been mentioned before on this server, that to use two different
> styles of English (i.e. English and American) in one publication is very
> poor style indeed.  Not only does the parser allow for this kind of nonsense
> (why it is bi-lingual I will never know), but the source is full of it.  No,
> it doesn't really matter, it's just a little unfortunate.

 The US uses an alpha numeric form of date designation. In long form it
would appear as:

 Dec. 1 1999 (12/01/99)

  as opposed to

 1 Dec. 1999 (01/12/99)

as you seem to be comfortable with. I personaly find the US version logical
and cannot imagine why anyone would want to do it differently. After all if
it is good enough for the people of the US it should be good enough for the
rest of the people on this planet.

 As to the rest of your language rants I am not even going to touch that
as it is an overly discussed topic that has been fairly well resolved to
everyone else's satisfaction.

-- 
Ken Tyler

See my 850+ Povray and 3D Rendering and Raytracing Links at:
http://home.pacbell.net/tylereng/index.html


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From: TonyB
Subject: Re: English style?
Date: 11 Sep 1999 23:27:09
Message: <37DB0E5B.5892CD7D@panama.phoenix.net>
As a child, I learned the USA system of dating. I understood it, I used it, and
found nothing wrong with it. When I changed over to Panamanian schools, I was
hit with the reality that they didn't work that way. After a few months, I had
changed over to their system. Now, I find nothing wrong with this one. My father
still uses the USA system, since he is not in school. In my own personal papers
and pov script files, I have taken to using the D/M/Y system. It is times like
this that I feel detached from my North American roots and I feel kinda sad
about having 2 nationalities and living in the country I like least of the two.
Perhaps I should detach from both nationalities and start using the Japanese
system (Y/M/D). To breifly explain it, to them I was more important to know in
what year of what Emperor's reign they were, than to know what month or day they
were living.

-- 
Anthony L. Bennett
http://welcome.to/TonyB

Non nova, sed nove.


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From: Edward C 
Subject: Re: English style?
Date: 12 Sep 1999 01:58:45
Message: <37db4115@news.povray.org>
<note> Please note - It seems the last sentance in my previous post was not
sufficient, the post should have included <rant> </rant> markers.  I'm
deeply sorry for this omission. </note>
<question> But if I may restate my still un-answered question:  Which short
format is/should be used in POV source - or is it not important to discern
between the 12th of Janurary and the 1st of December in a given year?
</question>
<rant> ...grumble grumble... of course if POV were mono-lingual, there
wouldn't be ambiguity... mumble mumble...</rant>
<aside> BTW:  That Y/M/D is cool, a bit like MSB first format, where D/M/Y
is LSB first format, and M/D/Y is.... </aside>


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From: Saadat Saeed
Subject: Re: English style?
Date: 12 Sep 1999 05:52:18
Message: <37db77d2@news.povray.org>
All in all there is an iso standard somewhere where dates should be wriiten
in the format YYYYMMDD... that is

23rd September 2009 will be written as 20090923.

This does makes a lot of sense in the computer world. I mark all my backup
files in that format. So when I categorise i.e. sort them they are
automatically sorted year first, then month and then date. Makes a lot more
sense to archive them with the least amount of information first and then
moving into the details....

BR/Saadat

Edward C. <edw### [at] hotmailcom> wrote in message
news:37db4115@news.povray.org...
> <note> Please note - It seems the last sentance in my previous post was
not
> sufficient, the post should have included <rant> </rant> markers.  I'm
> deeply sorry for this omission. </note>
> <question> But if I may restate my still un-answered question:  Which
short
> format is/should be used in POV source - or is it not important to discern
> between the 12th of Janurary and the 1st of December in a given year?
> </question>
> <rant> ...grumble grumble... of course if POV were mono-lingual, there
> wouldn't be ambiguity... mumble mumble...</rant>
> <aside> BTW:  That Y/M/D is cool, a bit like MSB first format, where D/M/Y
> is LSB first format, and M/D/Y is.... </aside>
>
>


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From: Matt Giwer
Subject: Re: English style?
Date: 12 Sep 1999 06:45:02
Message: <37DB8436.D56B57A8@giwersworld.org>
"Edward C." wrote:

> How does one write the date in POV source files?  DD/MM/YY, or that
> inexplicable style MM/DD/YY?
> I can see the logic to the first style, it follows a clear order, but the
> second?  Thankfully, I can't recall any modern nation that uses
> it.....there's some country between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, but
> last I heard, they hadn't even adopted the metric system!  :-P
> BTW: It has been mentioned before on this server, that to use two different
> styles of English (i.e. English and American) in one publication is very
> poor style indeed.  Not only does the parser allow for this kind of nonsense
> (why it is bi-lingual I will never know), but the source is full of it.  No,
> it doesn't really matter, it's just a little unfortunate.

	This sounds almost insulting to the universe in general. 

	Any rational person writes YYMMDD so tha core sorting routines
can be used. 

	Tougne out of cheek. 

	Is that a good enough answer?


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From: Ken
Subject: Re: English style?
Date: 12 Sep 1999 06:50:34
Message: <37DB8511.C8121C4B@pacbell.net>
Matt Giwer wrote:

>         Any rational person writes YYMMDD so tha core sorting routines
> can be used.

Only programmers are conceited enough to think that the rest of the world
should be structured for their convenience where dates are concerned.

-- 
Ken Tyler

See my 850+ Povray and 3D Rendering and Raytracing Links at:
http://home.pacbell.net/tylereng/index.html


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From: Lutz Kretzschmar
Subject: Re: English style?
Date: 12 Sep 1999 07:48:33
Message: <37dd92ea.3606746@194.174.214.110>
Hi Edward C., you recently wrote in povray.programming:

> How does one write the date in POV source files?  DD/MM/YY, or that
> inexplicable style MM/DD/YY?
Mostly in Europe (as far as I have experienced), the format used is
DD.MM.YY. Using dots instead of slashes is the way I identify which
system is being used. I think using DD/MM/YY is always going to be
confusing because the USA uses the MM/DD/YY format.

- Lutz
  email : lut### [at] stmuccom
  Web   : http://www.stmuc.com/moray


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From: Mr  Art
Subject: Re: English style?
Date: 12 Sep 1999 12:06:20
Message: <37DBCF50.C2275E5D@gci.net>
Even though I was born in the US and am a product
of public education here, I have adjusted to the more
"logical(?)" DD/MM/YY format. To me, it is a mater of
going from the smallest unit to the largest unit.
If it helps you to understand, I also model in 1=1 meter
scale, if I can get away with it I use a 24 hr clock, and a
Dvorak keyboard. I guess that I am not the "standerd
American".
Mr. Art

"Edward C." wrote:

> How does one write the date in POV source files?  DD/MM/YY, or that
> inexplicable style MM/DD/YY?
> I can see the logic to the first style, it follows a clear order, but the
> second?  Thankfully, I can't recall any modern nation that uses
> it.....there's some country between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, but
> last I heard, they hadn't even adopted the metric system!  :-P
> BTW: It has been mentioned before on this server, that to use two different
> styles of English (i.e. English and American) in one publication is very
> poor style indeed.  Not only does the parser allow for this kind of nonsense
> (why it is bi-lingual I will never know), but the source is full of it.  No,
> it doesn't really matter, it's just a little unfortunate.


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From: Edward C 
Subject: Close.
Date: 12 Sep 1999 21:10:57
Message: <37dc4f21@news.povray.org>
I apologise for the stir my initial post caused here, I had a simple
question, which I decided to make a little more interesting with some sort
of humour.  A great deal of that humour was interpereted as nasty little
digs (which in hindsight, is exactly how it is written).  In future I will
try to keep my humour a little more conventional.
As for resolving the question, I will use either YYYYMMDD format or DD.MM.YY
format as appropriate.
I will not post to this thread again, and will cancel what I have posted,
including this message, within a week.

P.S.  In future, if I make, or anyone else makes a comment which sounds
inappropriate, it is probably a good idea to assume, at least initially,
that they are trying to be funny.  I don't think anyone comes here just to
be rude.


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