Probably my proposal comes down to 2 parts, which are separable:
1. Find a suitable replacement for udunits as a reference library for CF calendar dates. Unfortunately, udunits used a slightly non-standard syntax, which we need to still be legal for backwards compatibility. So its unlikely a standard library would work off the shelf. Someone needs to commit to making a library that supports CF as it evolves. Other libraries can test against it.
2. Allow a suitable string syntax for date/times, probably expressed as a profile of ISO8601. Its a modest but worthwhile improvement IMO. The syntax that is already used in udunits would be ok with me. However this syntax has to be defined (it never was, unless you are yacc). In my understanding, udunits is more or less a superset of ISO. that is, its a bit more lenient in the syntax. However it adds a few restrictions, like defaulting to UTC and filling non specified fields with 0. So its not strictly a superset. The advantage of using CF process to define the syntax ("clarify the profile of ISO8601") is that we are less likely to miss some subtlety in syntax and meaning.
John _______________________________________________ CF-metadata mailing list CF-metadata@cgd.ucar.edu http://mailman.cgd.ucar.edu/mailman/listinfo/cf-metadata
