Nathan Wiger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>> Anyway, it doesn't matter; it's a lot more widely used than any other
>> epoch, and epochs are completely arbitrary anyway. What's wrong with
>> it?
> I think the "What's wrong with it?" part is the wrong approach to this
> discussion.
That's exactly what I disagree with, I think. I don't understand why this
would be the wrong approach to the discussion. It seems to me that it
follows automatically from "epochs are completely arbitrary anyway."
> That being said, what we need to say "is it possible UNIX might not be
> perfect?" (hard to imagine, true... :-). More specifically, "is there
> something that would work better for putting Perl in Palm pilots,
> watches, cellphones, Windows and Mac hosts, *plus* everything else it's
> already in?"
How does it make any difference what epoch you use? Why would this make
Perl more portable?
> No, but currently Perl IS forcing Windows, Mac, and BeOS users to
> understand what the UNIX epoch is.
In that case, I don't understand what the difference is between that and
forcing those users *plus* Unix users to understand what the MJD epoch is.
> There's some other advantages to MJD beyond system-independence.
But MJD isn't any more system-independent than Unix time. Absolutely
nothing about Unix time is specific to Unix; it's just as portable as any
other arbitrary epoch.
> Namely, it allows easy date arithmetic, meaning complex objects are not
> required to modify dates even down to the nanosecond level.
Unix time allows this down to the second level already. If we wanted to
allow it down to the nanosecond level through a different interface to
return something like TAI64NA or something, that would make sense to me.
What doesn't make sense to me is a change of epoch; I just don't see what
would be gained.
I must be very confused. I don't understand what we gain from MJD dates
at all, and the arguments in favor don't make any sense to me; all of the
advantages listed apply equally well to the time system we have already.
--
Russ Allbery ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>
