Re: AS400 Date Window For *MDY

[Jim Langston <jlangston@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Good Monday, John,

Comments in line

John Taylor wrote:

> Hi Jim,
>
> Comments are inline.
>
> [SNIP]
> Maybe my memory is failing, but I don't remember having date fields in the
> database or RPG until V3R1 or V3R2. They weren't supported in display or
> printer files until V4R3 or R4. I think it's a bit of a stretch to say that
> the date data type is a standard in the AS/400 community. I think you'll
> find many more instances of the date being defined as character or numeric.

True, but we have 40 years to implement them.  And if you don't use them,
then that is something you need to consider in your code, and isn't an issue
anyway.

> [SNIP]
> Well, maybe. The problem is that you're making an assumption that IBM will
> do this. This is what I would expect them to do as well. However, the reason
> that I started the thread was to find out whether they will, or won't. As
> currently documented, and generally acknowledged, the 6 digit date data type
> will ONLY represent 01/01/1940 through 12/31/2039. It is a fixed window.
>
> What if they DON'T change the range? Or, more likely, CAN'T change it
> because the installed base has created applications that depend on the
> existing behaviour?

If they don't change the range, then date fields will become worthless in
2041.  What are they going to do then, make a *newdate type?  IBM would
have to change the date to make it usable, and what they would most likely
do would just be to move the low and high end up a bit, say by 20 years.
So instead of 1941 to 2040 it would become 1961 to 2060.  I think the real
limitation is only how a two digit date is expressed, not in how it is stored,
though,
so our data shouldn't change at all.  What are you doing in your own programs
with 2 digit date field entry?

> I think we agree on how it SHOULD work, but everything I've seen in the
> documentation indicates otherwise. Based on this, I'm going to avoid using
> the date data type for 6 digit formats. A true shame, because they are
> really handy when used for displays and printer files.

I think you will have a lot more to change come 2040 if you do it yourself, then
if you let the OS handle it.

Regards,

Jim Langston

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