So I'm hacking away at time zone code and getting darn close to producing something usable, dare I even say elegant? We'll see on both counts, I suppose ;)
Anyway, I've been working with the raw Olson DB the last couple days, and I've produced a parser that can read its "rules", "zones", "links" and turn them into useful data structures, generate sequences of "changes" (when a particular zone changes something like its short name (CST => CWT), or a DST change (offset changes) or its offset (LMT times to modern offsets)). But now I have an important question. The time zones defined in the Olson DB are not complete, merely representative. For example, I live in Minneapolis, Minnesota, US. The time zone definitions nearest to me are "America/Chicago", "America/Menominee" (a small town in Wisconsin). Minnesota is "represented" by Chicago. The America/Chicago zone has a number of different observances, and during some of them it applies the "US" rules", while during others it applies the "Chicago" rules. My question is are the Chicago rules broadly applicable to all places using US Central time? Obviously, a few are specified differently (Menominee), but most seem to just be lumped in with Chicago. I'm assuming, from reading the comments in the file, that this is indeed correct, but I'd greatly appreciate some confirmation on this point. -dave /*======================= House Absolute Consulting www.houseabsolute.com =======================*/
