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Peter.Colpaert wrote:
1. 00:00:00 or 24:00:00 (Peter.Colpaert)
One of our processes involves parsing a directory listing of a windows
shared drive, and there are 6 files which cause problems.
These files have an entry in the listing as follows:
01/01/2000 12:00a 438,082 GN0229084.JPG
The listing is parsed by two different programs (one made by me, the other
made several years ago by another developer).
His program (using pre-bif methods) returns the time as 00:00:00, whereas
mine (using the %time built-in function) returns 24:00:00
First of all, I'd like to know whether January 1, 2000 00:00:00 is the
same as January 1, 2000 24:00:00 (I would think that the latter actually
means January 2).
(I know, this was beaten into the ground; but I gotta add my opinion
after just getting back...)
My purely personal opinion is that hour '24' cannot be valid. Hour
'24' implies that hour '24' has minutes '00' through '59' and the
time '24:15' doesn't exist. True, the implication is a logical one,
not enforced by standards. But programming should have a logical
foundation. (Ignoring Daylight Saving Time, leap-years, etc., since
we need to handle all special cases as... "special cases" anyway.)
Also, when comparing hours with minutes or seconds, why would anyone
expect hours to range up to '24', but minute '60' and second '60'
wouldn't be allowed? Minutes and seconds start at '00', so hours
should be consistent. Is '24:60:60' a valid time? If so, what time
is it?
IMO, hour '24' ought to be tossed onto the heap of discarded
nonsense. Much like division by zero...
Also, "12noon" must be /neither/ AM nor PM. The conceptual use of
'AM' is 'before noon' (ante meridiem) and 'PM' is 'after noon' (post
meridiem). "Noon" can be neither 'before' nor 'after' "noon".
Similarly, "12midnight" is 'special'. "Noon" is not part of the
morning nor part of the afternoon; it is the point that marks the
boundary between them. (Is your property line part of your property?
or your neighbor's?) But I'm totally lost on what that means. Sigh.
Purely opinion, not based upon expertise with standards.
Tom Liotta
midrange.com
