Re: [OT Why GB English is different] Re: Mozilla firefox en-gb

[Roel Schroeven <rschroev_nospam_ml@fastmail.fm>]

William Ballard wrote:

> I was trying to argue that with my Math Prof. that for consistencies 
> sake either the year or the day must come first, followed by units in 
> consistent order: either yyyy-mm-dd or dd-mm-yyyy.
>
> He was all into Jungian psychology, and he was telling me that it's all 
> about what information people need to know more than some slavish 
> devotion to consistency.  When you give a date the odds are pretty good 
> the year is well known, so it can go last.  The month is not as likely 
> to be well known, and it needs to be established before the day means 
> anything.
>
> He sure convinced me.  But like I said, his main point was conveying to 
> me sometimes how a consistency is not the best value: others trump it.

He would never convince me. Sure, in many circumstances the year is not 
very important, but there are lots of cases where it is relevant. 
Historical dates, for example: when did Douglas Adams die? A: 
2001-05-11. You can even strip of irrelevant parts: 2001-05 if you don't 
need to know the exact day.

I'm all for consistency, since new and unforeseen use cases can appear, 
which will obsolete any premature optimizations.

--
"Codito ergo sum"
Roel Schroeven