[REBOL] Re: Millennium + 1 ...
From: lmecir:mbox:vol:cz at: 3-Jan-2001 17:17
The Millenium and the Rebol Counting Error.
There was a dispute when the Second Millenium of our Julian/Gregorian calendar shall
be
celebrated. The Millenium in this case shall mean the day, that is two thousand years
after the starting day of the
calendar. The calendar documentation is stating, that the starting day
has been assigned the date 1/1/1 A.D. According to that, the Second Millenium day shall
have the date 1/1/2001 A.D.
The architect of the Julian calendar used the date 1/1/1 A.D. as the starting date of
the calendar.
What did the calendar architect do, when he wanted to refer back in time?
He used another calendar called the B.C. calendar, that counted the years backwards.
The first year of the B.C. calendar was
the year immediately preceding the first year of the A.D. calendar. We,
knowing zero and the negative numbers, can use A.D. calendar even for
the B.C. calendar dates. A conversion table:
YEAR CONVERTED TO A.D.
******************************************
4 A.D. 4
3 A.D. 3
2 A.D. 2
1 A.D. 1
1 B.C. 0
2 B.C. -1
3 B.C. -2
4 B.C. -3
>From the fact, that in Rebol
(1/1/0001 - 1) ; == 31/12/0000
we can observe, that Rebol doesn't use the B.C. calendar, but it rather
uses the A.D. calendar even for the days before the start of our
calendar. This is simpler and more practical, than the ancient "calendar
switching".
Now about the Rebol Counting Error. Example:
series1: skip [-2 -1 0 1 2] 3; == [1 2]
Now we can ask what does the first place of our series contain. The
answer is, that the first place of our SERIES1 contains the number 1:
pick series1 1
What does the second place of our SERIES1 contain? It contains the
number 2:
pick series1 2
What does the place 1 B.S. i.e. the first place before the start of the SERIES1 contain?
It contains the number 0.
This place should be the place number 0 S. (i.e. the place number zero in the SERIES1),
as everybody able to count
backwards from 1 can find out. The problem is, that the Rebol designer
is currently trying to convince us, that it is the place -1 S., as can
be seen from:
help pick
pick series1 0 ; == none
pick series1 -1 ; == 0
What do other Rebols think?
> >> 2-Jan-0001 - 1
== 1-Jan-0001
>> 1-Jan-0001 - 1
== 31-Dec-0000
So,
> those who claim 2001 as the start of the new millinnium are wrong,
as
> there was a year 0. At least according to REBOL... (:
--
Carl Read
> [carl--cybercraft--co--nz]
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