I think I do understand how difficult dates are. All I'm saying is that by adopting a "standard" that is OS dependent (and hence, almost by definition, OS varying) you make R behave differently on different OSs - and that is NOT "making R portable across multiple OSs".
This is a theoretical whinge. I'm not going to program it ! Please don't let me make too much of this anyway. For one thing, although it is not guaranteed, it seems that many OSs DO in fact behave identically. Also, it is only incomplete or erroneous dates that might be handled differently - and in most applications, one needs to pre-process incomplete date-times in R, rather than leave them to any default interpretation (even if that default was strictly fixed). > -----Original Message----- > From: Jason Turner [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: 15 November 2003 06:17 > To: Simon Fear > Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: [R] ISOdate() and strptime() > > > Security Warning: > If you are not sure an attachment is safe to open please contact > Andy on x234. There are 0 attachments with this message. > ________________________________________________________________ > > Thomas Lumley wrote: > > > On Fri, 14 Nov 2003, Simon Fear wrote: > > > >>Is the behaviour of ISOtime() and strptime() determined by ISO > >>or POSIX standard? Seems not to fit R's "no nannying" policy > >>at all. > >> > > > > > > It's determined by your operating system, so you're > complaining to the > > wrong people. > > > > And since R is written to be portable across multiple OSs, > you might get > an idea how tricky this becomes. Hence the "iron fist" > approach to date > handling. Believe me, I've programmed date handling - it's always a > terrible, nasty, messy business when international locales > and different > operating systems clash. I'm stunned it's as good as it is, subtle > traps and all. > > Cheers > > Jason > Simon Fear Senior Statistician Syne qua non Ltd Tel: +44 (0) 1379 644449 Fax: +44 (0) 1379 644445 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] web: http://www.synequanon.com Number of attachments included with this message: 0 This message (and any associated files) is confidential and\...{{dropped}} ______________________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list https://www.stat.math.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help