Re: A few questions

[Laurent <lutgenl@icloud.com>]

On Sunday, 1 November 2015 14:42:17 UTC+1, brbar...@gmail.com  wrote:
> You could translate the YYYYMMDD time into a continuous numerical value
> and then use Ada.Real_Time to convert that value to time in seconds from
> some selected starting point.
> 
> The way astronomers track time is to go over to counting seconds from 
> Jan. 0, 2013 BCE.  The variable is called Astronomical Julian Date.
> The current value is fairly large, particularly if you want a time 
> resolution in microseconds.  GPS time is close to Julian Date, but
> uses a starting date closer to the present.
> 
> Seidelmann, P. K., 2006: Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical
> Almanac, University Science Books, Sausalito, CA
> 
> is the definitive reference.  
> 
> Savage, N., 2015: Split Second, Comm. ACM, 58, No. 9, 12-14
> 
> deals with "The issue of whether to add a `leap second' to square
> the clock with the Earth's orbit pits time specialists against IT."
> (quoting from the index to that issue of CACM).
> 
> To put it simply, Astronomical Julian Date (and relatives) produces 
> a uniform time record in seconds,  It also makes sure that all dates/times
> are reduced to the same time zone at the Greenwich meridian.  The usual
> IT convention (YYYYMMDD) is non-uniform (for example, Feb. may have 28
> or 29 days - while Jul. always has 31).  It would seem that if your
> application might move to a geographically distributed environment,
> the Julian Date would be sensible.  On the other hand, Julian Date is
> not readily interpretable to humans.
> 
> Bruce B.

Thanks for the info but I fear that it is more than overkill. 

It also shows that most "standards" have gotten this status only because things have been like that before and not because they are the best possible solution. 

So if you have a better solution than the actual one but are not part of a large community which supports this, then you can burn it immediately. Only because no one wants to change a thing and prefer to use some crappy solution over changing something and investing time and effort.

Somehow this world sucks.