You are correct that sorting is less complex with yyyymmdd format. That's why
NOAA-NWS archive data have been stored that way since the late 1800s. Early
Hollerith punched card machines didn't have the wiring capability that were
developed in the early 1900s.
Stan Doore
----- Original Message -----
From: Jeremiah MacGregor
To: U.S. Metric Association
Sent: Friday, April 10, 2009 10:03 AM
Subject: [USMA:44517] Re: ISO date format
Most likely because sorting is easier when the year comes first, followed by
the month then day. Putting the year last creates filing and sorting problems.
Jerry
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: STANLEY DOORE <stan.do...@verizon.net>
To: U.S. Metric Association <usma@colostate.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, April 8, 2009 7:43:52 AM
Subject: [USMA:44475] Re: ISO date format
The ISO yyyymmdd date format has been used in US Government weather archive
records since the 1800s when the Hollerith punched card was invented.
Stan Doore
----- Original Message -----
From: Pat Naughtin
To: U.S. Metric Association
Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 3:44 PM
Subject: [USMA:44457] Re: ISO date format
On 2009/04/06, at 10:08 PM, John M. Steele wrote:
The order yyyymmdd is used a lot with various separators in
computers and digital media files as alphabetic sorting rules sort into data
order.
In ISO8601, the only allowable separator in date format is a
hyphen, or no separator, so, at best, they are using "mutant ISO8601."
--- On Mon, 4/6/09, STANLEY DOORE <stan.do...@verizon.net> wrote:
From: STANLEY DOORE <stan.do...@verizon.net>
Subject: [USMA:44434] ISO date format
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <usma@colostate.edu>
Date: Monday, April 6, 2009, 1:43 AM
On Sunday, a Fox News Channel clip from Prague television
showed the date format of the clip as (yyyy.mm.dd) i.e. 2009.04.05
Isn't it interesting that others are moving to the ISO standard
date format?
Stan Doore
Dear John and Stan,
I suspect that dates in the ISO 8601 format are gradually becoming more
popular as soon as people realise how useful they are in any computer
environment.
As an example, I store drafts of the Metrication matters newsletter (like
this one for this month) as: mm-newsletter-2009-04
I don't need to have the day on the end because the Metrication matters
newsletter is sent on the 10th day of each month.
The ISO 8601 format means that I can sort all of the back copies in date
order by sorting any list either alphabetically or by date simply and easily.
You can see the full list of the old Metrication matters newsletters — in date
order — at the bottom of http://www.MetricationMatters.com/newsletter.html
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
PO Box 305 Belmont 3216,
Geelong, Australia
Phone: 61 3 5241 2008
Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has helped
thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the modern metric
system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they now save thousands each
year when buying, processing, or selling for their businesses. Pat provides
services and resources for many different trades, crafts, and professions for
commercial, industrial and government metrication leaders in Asia, Europe, and
in the USA. Pat's clients include the Australian Government, Google, NASA,
NIST, and the metric associations of Canada, the UK, and the USA. See
http://www.metricationmatters.com/ or to get the free 'Metrication matters'
newsletter go to: http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter to subscribe.
