On Jul 13, 2008, at 2:50 PM, Jens Alfke wrote:


On 13 Jul '08, at 10:52 AM, Phil wrote:

I'd really like to understand what *common* modern uses there are for non-Gregorian calendars

Are you serious? A large fraction of the world's population uses other calendars. From the Wikipedia entry "Calendar":


Apparently ignorant, but quite serious.

While the Gregorian calendar is widely used in Israel's business and day-to-day affairs, the Hebrew calendar, used by Jews worldwide for religious and cultural affairs, also influences civil matters in Israel (such as national holidays) and can be used there for business dealings (such as for the dating of checks). The Persian calendar is used in Iran and Afghanistan. The Islamic calendar is used by most non-Persian Muslims worldwide. The Chinese,Hebrew, Hindu, and Julian calendars are widely used for religious and/or social purposes. The Ethiopian calendar or Ethiopic calendar is the principal calendar used in Ethiopia and Eritrea. In Thailand, where the Thai solar calendar is used, the months and days have adopted the western standard, although the years are still based on the traditional Buddhist calendar. Even where there is a commonly used calendar such as the Gregorian calendar, alternate calendars may also be used, such as a fiscal calendar or the astronomical year numbering system[1].

Add that up and it's probably over 75% of the world's population using other calendars, at least for non-business purposes.


So I'm just be trapped in my own perspective/needs on this (i.e. when I read the 'business and day-to-day affairs' comment on the Hebrew calendar I think 'that's well over 90% of the use cases I can think of using the Gregorian calendar.') OK, I'll quit complaining and quietly (re)implement what I need for my purposes.

Hardcoding the Gregorian calendar is a serious internationalization problem, just like hardcoding the Roman alphabet or left-to-right text layout or octagonal red stop-sign icons.

—Jens


I appreciate you taking the time to explain that this really is an issue for some folks as I didn't appreciate it as being as important as it apparently is.

Thanks,
Phil_______________________________________________

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