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AAT ICAS Y2K retrospect of year 2020

retrospective notes on the formatting of calendar dates and clock times

the transition to a new decade ( 2020–2029 ) is an opportune occasion for a review of data science principles . Alliance for the Advancement of Technology ( AAT at aatideas.org ) also observes a retrospect of technological and data science issues involved in the transition to a new millennial era demarcated by the year 2000 ( Y2K ) .

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précis

the transition to a new decade ( 2020–2029 ) is an opportune occasion for a review of data science principles . Alliance for the Advancement of Technology ( AAT at aatideas.org ) also observes a retrospect of technological and data science issues involved in the transition to a new millennial era demarcated by the year 2000 ( Y2K ) .

caveats

these notes are not necessarily intended as advice on style nor format for any particular app , document , nor form .

proactive efforts to use proper data formats include the writing and development of proper new apps , documents , and forms .

remedial efforts to try to rewrite every prior document should be reconsidered in favor of proactive efforts .

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retrospective notes on the formatting of calendar dates and clock times

calendar dates and clock times are often written in terms of data formats . the conventions or format choices used to write a calendar date or a clock time can support or limit the use of date and time information . thus it becomes useful to characterize data formats in terms of certain practicable qualities . the definition of a proper data format will be presented as a way for writers to improve their writing of calendar dates and clock times in support of improved information for readers and users .

a growing amount of data about a diversity of subjects has been created in recent decades , however there are also many types of data that were created prior to the year 1900 . the use of calendar date and clock time information is an important domain of data for so many arrays of uses ; including important types of critical data such as accounting , medicine , science , and so forth . uses of calendar and clock data formats are moreover ubiquitous as metadata , used to facilitate the management and use of so many arrays of uses of data .

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rationale for attention to data formatting

how calendar dates are formatted or written can affect how they might be used practicably .

before Y2K ( the year 2000 ) , efforts were made to review whether computer programs would continue to work into the new year 2000 . one of the main concerns was about a Y2K scale overflow bug whenever year data were truncated to two numerical places . truncation would facilitate a '99' being followed by a '00' which might result in particular varieties of confusion . is the '00' to refer to the year 1900 or 2000 ? is the '00' to be sequenced or sorted before or after '99' ?

an initiative to review computer systems to avoid Y2K bugs took place in many different business and governmental organizations . both hardware and software systems were updated to ensure that truncated year data would not crash hardware or software systems .

reasons for summarizing a data style of proper formats include not only the needs for hardware and software to function correctly , but also for human readers to practicably read calendar date or clock time information .

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definition of proper data format

the writing of calendar dates and clock times is ubiquitous to a diverse array of media , hardware , and software processes . a data format can be designated as proper if each format element is unambiguously established ; and if expressions of the format can be read , written , or processed practicably .

proper -- a quality of data format for which each format element is unambiguously established , and for which expressions can be read and written practicably .

different data formats might be proper in different contexts of use . those data formats that can be proper for more contexts of use can be regarded to be more proper than other data formats .

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practicable use of leading zero

reading and writing of data can encompass how the data is situated or organized . is the data written in a manner in which the characters in the expression are consistent with how data in the range might be chronologically sorted ?

practicable use of a leading zero in a format element 'does not eat hay' , so to speak . ( for example , the leading zero for the minute-of-the-hour is used for minutes '00' to '09' because a proper data format for minute-of-the-hour consists of two numeric places for the data range of '00' to '60' . )

indeed , the writing of a leading zero clearly establishes the numerical place of characters in a numerical format element . the practicable use of a leading zero not only supports improved reading and writing of calendar format elements , it also supports proper coding of hardware and software systems .

moreover , formatting data with a leading zero that is proper for a particular data range will facilitate a correct numerical sort . when writing a day-of-year ( a range of 001 to 365, or to 366 in leap years ) , leading zeroes to three numeric places will facilitate a proper chronological organization of data regardless of whether the date is before or after day 010 or day 100 . ( day '100' does not occur before day '9' [sic] , but a computer will sort a '1' before a '9' numerical character ) .

when writing a calendar day-of-month , leading zeroes to three numeric places will facilitate a proper chronological organization of data regardless of whether it is before or after day 10 . (day '10' does not occur before day '9' [sic] , but a computer will sort a '1' before a '9' numerical character ) .

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practicable use of alphanumeric data elements

either numbers and or letters or characters of the alphabet are used to write calendar dates or clock times .

numbers are comprised of the numerical characters from '0' to '9' , however alphabetical characters are also sometimes used for writing the corresponding words of numbers , or for the writing of roman numerals . when non-numeric expressions of numbers are used it typically concerns the writing of dialog or metadata .

Gregorian calendar months are named with characters or letters of the alphabet , in long or short form ; yet also sometimes expressed as a numerical month-of-year .

there are a variety of conventions or styles for the writing of calendar dates ; differing on which year , month , or day format element is arranged first . it might have been that earlier approaches to communicating dates was to write them as a writer or a speaker had spoken a date .

the focus presented by a convention of a data format can however affect or limit practicability in certain ways . the focus of parsing particular calendar data is sometimes context-sensitive. sometimes the day-of-month is the focus, and sometimes the focus is the weekday. sometimes the focus is on speaking a particular cadence of a calendar date .

some conventions combine the use of numbers and letters , and other conventions use numerals delimited with punctuation characters . it seems that a proper data format is one for which the format order of data elements is unambiguously clear to a reader .

using a proper data format can also encompass the spelling of a calendar month to ensure the communication of month data as month and not as a year or as a day-of-month . the specification of a proper data format for a calendar year in terms of four numeric places is supported by the data range of calendar years in the millennial eras , in addition to coordinating the proper expressions of month-of-year and day-of-month data elements .

in the Gregorian calendar, day-of-month data range is from '01' to '28' , '29' , '30' , or '31' . the numerical month-of-year data range is from '01' to '12' . any year data truncated to the two ten-and-one numerical places from '00' to '99' includes a range of coinciding numerical values that comprise the day-of-month and the month-of-year .

when information about a use of a particular calendar format is unavailable to a reader , proper data formats reduce the need for readers to try to resolve or to figure out calendar date information . proper data formats also reduce the risk that data is wrong or in some way impracticable .

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localization of millennial styles and formats

uses of a largest to smallest year-month-day calendar date format order that is chronologically sortable in correlation with both a reading order , and an order of numeric place, from left to right ; preceded the more recent advents of electro-mechanical computing and mechanical typesetting . ISO 8601 is a modern international standard specifying the representation of dates and times .

a focus on a chronologically sortable means of writing calendar dates and clock times that is also chronologically sortable presents some excellent opportunities for increased practicability of these data formats . these styles of proper data format can very well be categorized as 'millennial' styles of writing calendar dates and clock times .

millennial--a style of data format by which elements are presented from largest to smallest in a manner that is chronologically sortable in terms of both a reading order , and an order of numeric place , from left to right .

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proper data format expressions annotated

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table d9Z34-01 ✧ proper data formats for Gregorian calendar dates

format example annotation
year00004 numeric places for calendar years in the millennial eras . transitions to the Gregorian calendar occurred in different regions from AD 1582 to 1923.
month-number012 numeric places for a data range of '01' to '12' .
month-nameJanuaryalphabetical expressions of months are readily distinguishable from other format elements , however are not alphanumerically sortable as chronological expressions .
day-of-month012 numeric places for a data range of '01' to '28' , '29' , '30' , or '31' .
weekdayMonday
day-of-year0013 numeric places for a data range of '001' to '365' or to '366' in a leap year .

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table d9Z34-02 ✧ proper data formats for AAT ICAS calendar dates

format example annotation
AAT ICAS calendar date2019 Z34 Draco day 364 web index of AAT ICAS

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aatideas.org web page updated:
UCN 12019 Z34 Draco ✦ day 364 ✦ IDC zone(UT) t729 tt166
2019 day 364 ✦ t729 [corrected e0A30]
AD 2019 December 30 Monday ✦ SMH UT 17:30:00

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