[REBOL] Re: Displaying AM / PM times
From: sanghabum:aol at: 27-Aug-2001 13:53
[joel--neely--fedex--com]:
> Also, 24:00 is not a valid 24-hour time *of day* (00:00..23:59),
> although it is a completely valid time *interval*. REBOL blurs
> the distinction between those two meanings of the word "time",
> which allows conversations like the following:
>
A minor, even pedantic, correction here. ISO 8601 does allow 24:00:00, but no
other "24" value--the minutes and seconds must be zero. It allows you to
distinguish:
00:00:00 29-Aug-2001 and
24:00:00 29-Aug-2001 which is the "same as" 00:00:00 30-Aug-2001, except it's
the last moment of the previous day, rather than the first moment of the next
day).
Whether this is a useful distinction or not, depends on your application and
your user's expectations.
The ISO standards do not define formats for AM/PM, and general confusion (differing local
conventions
) reigns as to the meaning of 12:00AM and
12:00PM.
(Another goodreason not to use 12-hour time... ;-)
You can use "noon" and "midnight" to replace these, but remember that
midnight
is ambiguous---is "midnight 31Aug-2001" in the mind of the reader
the "last moment of August" or the "first moment of its last day"?
--Colin
