Re: Getting "hard halts" on years > 2039

He who posted that was just giving you something else to look for. He was
not questioning the linguistics of 'hard halt'.
Much like my post gave other things to look for.

First of all, get rid of numeric and character representations of dates.
Sure, there are those who like them because you can put special values to
indicate certain things.
- Like blanks for the null paranoid.
- Six nines means it doesn't have a date closed yet. Six eights means...
If you just have to have weird stuff like this use ancient dates like
Michalengelo's birthday.

Other things to consider is not doing date conversions within your
programs. Do it via service programs. For example, instead of a test
date operation code write (or steal) your own date conversion subprocedure
and put it into service program. After all, you may want to start sliding
your 6 digit date cutoff from 2039 (especially for that mortgage example).
Changing one service program eases that. Of course, HR is always a
problem. Compare the hire date of this gal in my department who has been
here for over 40 years with the projected retirement date of someone who
just started fresh out of high school. Six digit dates just suck. Then
there's fixed assets with items with a long amoritization nearing end of
terms versus the projected end of amortization of new items.


Rob Berendt