Re: Storing dates - revisted...

Chuck,

I agree with Bruce on this output issue.  If people 'know' that 99 = 1999,
then they will 'know' that 00 = 2000.  What is vital is that the output is
absolutely consistant in the format of the dates presented.  You'd  best
make sure that you don't have any reports or screens where the data is
presented raw or 'unflipped', in other words, in YYMMDD format.  While
anyone would be able to figure out the correct date for 99/12/31, once
those dates start showing up as 01/01/02, well...

JMHO,
Kathleen Kostuck
___________________
pager (414) 402-0820       fax (414) 495-4986
kkostuck@execpc.com
AS400 Solutions
Secretary - Wisconsin Midrange Computer Professionals Association   
___________________
----------
> From: bvining@VNET.IBM.COM
> To: MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
> Subject: Storing dates - revisted...
> Date: Wednesday, September 23, 1998 9:43 AM
> 
> Chuck,
> 
> I think you will find that different people have quite different ideas
> on how date output should appear (2-digit vs 4-digit or other similarly
> unambiguous format).  For output intended for a human being to process
> I believe that a 2-digit representation of the year is sufficient for
> 99% of the displays/reports found.  2-digit dates preserve space on the
> interface and are generally sufficient for a user to determine the
> correct century (within the context of the report or display).  Where
> it is considered critical that the user know unambiguously the century
> of interest, then 4-digit years should be used.  An example of this
> would be where DSPJOB shows the current job date as 4-digits (the year
> may make a big difference to a developer debugging a problem) but
> most OS/400 displays continue to use 2-digits (for instance, the date
> a spooled file was created on WRKSPLF).  Note though that this is only
> true because the intended user is a human being.
> 
> If the intended user is another program then the date should always be
> output in an unambiguous format.  The API List Spooled Files (QUSLSPL)
> for example uses a CYYMMDD format for date created/opened.
> 
> Bruce Vining
> 
> >...
> >Which brings up ANOTHER point - what are people doing about the actual
> >"output" ?
> >
> >Including the WHOLE date (i.e. 09/23/1998) or sticking with the "norm"
> >(09/23/98) ?
> >...
> >Chuck
> >
> 
> +---
> | This is the Midrange System Mailing List!
> | To submit a new message, send your mail to MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com.
> | To subscribe to this list send email to MIDRANGE-L-SUB@midrange.com.
> | To unsubscribe from this list send email to
MIDRANGE-L-UNSUB@midrange.com.
> | Questions should be directed to the list owner/operator:
david@midrange.com
> +---
+---
| This is the Midrange System Mailing List!
| To submit a new message, send your mail to MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com.
| To subscribe to this list send email to MIDRANGE-L-SUB@midrange.com.
| To unsubscribe from this list send email to MIDRANGE-L-UNSUB@midrange.com.
| Questions should be directed to the list owner/operator: david@midrange.com
+---