The limited utility argument already applies to the 6!:0 format case. Variance in format can be handled by verbs like dates::todayno or dates::todate (OMG! Perl/J creole!)

Roger Hui wrote:
Your proposed alternative
  formatString timeFormat 6!:0 ''
while apparently more flexible and more general, is
of limited utility, because very few timestamps will
be in the form used by 6!:0 -- 6 element floating point
vector, the first 5 of which has a zero fractional part.



----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark D. Niemiec" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Tuesday, October 30, 2007 19:59
Subject: Re: [Jprogramming] Current time: behaviour
To: [email protected]

Roger Hui <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
So you want to be a language implementer?  See:
http://www.jsoftware.com/jwiki/Essays/Timestamp_Extension
In my opinion, this function, while useful, appears to lack flexibility.
 formatString timeFormat 6!:0 ''
would be much useful and general than
  6!:0 formatString
(where timeFormat could be either another foreign or a user-defined verb),
since it could be used to format other times as well,
such as time-stamps adjusted by time zones, etc.

This could likely be done by a library verb, unless it is
something that would be done often, and performance is a significant factor.

If you REALLY want the same syntax, you could get it via
  nowFormat =: timeFormat 6!:0@(''"_)
  nowFormat formatString
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