On 30 Apr 1998, Tom Ivar Helbekkmo wrote:

> "Jose' Soares Da Silva" <sferac@bo.nettuno.it> writes:
> 
> > I vote for changing default date format to ISO-8601 to reflect
> > PostgreSQL documentation and for adherence to Standard SQL92.
> 
> Hear!  Hear!  Good standards beat silly conventions any day!
> 
Seems that you don't like conventions Tom, but you want
that all world use dates with American format.
Seems that you want impose one convention.
We're working with a database which name is PostgreSQL.
I suppose that you know what's mean the last 3 letters.
                                                           Jose' 


Thu, 30 Apr 1998 13:03:44 +0000 (UTC)
"Jose' Soares Da Silva" <sferac@bo.nettuno.it>
Re: [INTERFACES] Access'97 and ODBC
> > > I vote for changing default date format to ISO-8601 to reflect
> > Hear!  Hear!  Good standards beat silly conventions any day!
> Seems that you don't like conventions Tom, but you want
> that all world use dates with American format.
> Seems that you want impose one convention.
> We're working with a database which name is PostgreSQL.
> I suppose that you know what's mean the last 3 letters.

Uh, Jose', he was agreeing with you :))

Anyway, imo the only issue is _when_ this kind of change should take
place. My comment in the documentation did not promise that it would
change in the next release, only that it might change in a future
release. btw, I don't think that the ISO date style is mandated by the
SQL92 standard, but it does seem like a good idea, particularly as we
approach y2k...

Of course, since we now have the PGDATESTYLE environment variable,
usable by both the backend (at startup) and libpq (at connect time),
perhaps a change in default date format is not something to worry about
too much.

I haven't heard any negative comments (yet) about changing the default
date format to ISO-8601 (yyyy-mm-dd). Does anyone have a strong feeling
that this should _not_ happen for v6.4??

Speak up or it might happen ;)

                           - Tom

Thu, 30 Apr 1998 13:08:17 +0000
"Thomas G. Lockhart" <lockhart@alumni.caltech.edu>
Re: [INTERFACES] Access'97 and ODBC
On Thu, 30 Apr 1998, Jose' Soares Da Silva wrote:

> On 30 Apr 1998, Tom Ivar Helbekkmo wrote:
> 
> > "Jose' Soares Da Silva" <sferac@bo.nettuno.it> writes:
> > 
> > > I vote for changing default date format to ISO-8601 to reflect
> > > PostgreSQL documentation and for adherence to Standard SQL92.
> > 
> > Hear!  Hear!  Good standards beat silly conventions any day!
> > 
> Seems that you don't like conventions Tom, but you want
> that all world use dates with American format.
> Seems that you want impose one convention.

	Can someone inform me of what ISO-8601 exactly is?



Thu, 30 Apr 1998 10:54:41 -0400 (EDT)
The Hermit Hacker <scrappy@hub.org>
Re: [INTERFACES] Access'97 and ODBC
On Thu, 30 Apr 1998, Thomas G. Lockhart wrote:

	
> > > > I vote for changing default date format to ISO-8601 to reflect
> > > Hear!  Hear!  Good standards beat silly conventions any day!
> > Seems that you don't like conventions Tom, but you want
> > that all world use dates with American format.
> > Seems that you want impose one convention.
> > We're working with a database which name is PostgreSQL.
> > I suppose that you know what's mean the last 3 letters.
> 
> Uh, Jose', he was agreeing with you :))

I'm sorry Tom Ivar, my mistake (guilt of my poor english)

> 
> Anyway, imo the only issue is _when_ this kind of change should take
> place. My comment in the documentation did not promise that it would
> change in the next release,

Yes I know...

> only that it might change in a future
> release. btw, I don't think that the ISO date style is mandated by the
> SQL92 standard, but it does seem like a good idea, particularly as we
> approach y2k...

I think so, Tom. Here the syntax from...

(Second Informal Review Draft) ISO/IEC 9075:1992, Database
              Language SQL- July 30, 1992

5.3 <literal>
    <date literal> ::=
        DATE <date string>

    <date string> ::=
        <quote> <date value> <quote>

    <date value> ::=
        <years value> <minus sign> <months value> <minus sign> <days value>

example date syntax:    DATE '0001-01-01'
	                DATE '9999-12-31'

Ok, I know that keyword DATE before value is a silly and an useless
thing but YYYY-MM-DD format it's an intelligent thing.

> Of course, since we now have the PGDATESTYLE environment variable,
> usable by both the backend (at startup) and libpq (at connect time),
> perhaps a change in default date format is not something to worry about
> too much.
> 
> I haven't heard any negative comments (yet) about changing the default
> date format to ISO-8601 (yyyy-mm-dd). Does anyone have a strong feeling
> that this should _not_ happen for v6.4??
> 
> Speak up or it might happen ;)

Go for it Tom!                                              Jose'


Thu, 30 Apr 1998 16:13:00 +0000 (UTC)
"Jose' Soares Da Silva" <sferac@bo.nettuno.it>
Re: [INTERFACES] Access'97 and ODBC
On Thu, 30 Apr 1998, The Hermit Hacker wrote:

> On Thu, 30 Apr 1998, Jose' Soares Da Silva wrote:
> 
> > On 30 Apr 1998, Tom Ivar Helbekkmo wrote:
> > 
> > > "Jose' Soares Da Silva" <sferac@bo.nettuno.it> writes:
> > > 
> > > > I vote for changing default date format to ISO-8601 to reflect
> > > > PostgreSQL documentation and for adherence to Standard SQL92.
> > > 
> > > Hear!  Hear!  Good standards beat silly conventions any day!
> > > 
> > Seems that you don't like conventions Tom, but you want
> > that all world use dates with American format.
> > Seems that you want impose one convention.
> 
> 	Can someone inform me of what ISO-8601 exactly is?
> 

  -  ISO 8601:1988, Data elements and interchange formats - Information
     interchange-Representation of dates and times.
		      
     3.1.2  Definitions taken from ISO 8601

     This International Standard makes use of the following terms
     defined in ISO 8601:

     a) Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)
     b) date ("date, calendar" in ISO 8601)

     See (Second Informal Review Draft) ISO/IEC 9075:1992,
          Database Language SQL- July 30, 1992)
				 

The required ISO 8601 syntax for DATE is:

DATE 'YYYY-MM-DD'

Comments:

     1) DATE combines the datetime fields YEAR, MONTH and DAY.

     2) DATE defines a set of correctly formed values that
        represent any valid Gregorian calendar date between January 1, 1
        AD and December 31, 9999 AD.

     3) Any operation  that attempts to make a DATE <data type>
        contain a YEAR value that is less than 1 or greater than 9999
        will fail; the DBMS will return the:
	SQLSTATE error 22007 "data exception-invalid datetime format".

     4) DATE expects dates to have the following form: yyyy-mm-dd
        e.g.: 1994-07-15 represents July 15, 1994.
     5) DATE has a length of 10.
     6) Date literals must start with the <keyword> DATE and
      include 'yyyy-mm-dd';
      e.g.:

            CREATE mytable (mydate DATE);
            INSERT INTO mytable (mydate) VALUES (DATE '1996-01-01');

                                                            Jose'


Thu, 30 Apr 1998 17:43:37 +0000 (UTC)
"Jose' Soares Da Silva" <sferac@bo.nettuno.it>
Re: [INTERFACES] Access'97 and ODBC
The Hermit Hacker <scrappy@hub.org> writes:

> 	Can someone inform me of what ISO-8601 exactly is?

It's the international standard for representation of date and time.
ISO is the International Organization for Standardization (yeah, I
know, the letters are in the wrong order -- although not in French).
8601 is big and complicated, and some of the legal variations in there
look pretty silly, but the gist of it is simple and good, and I'm
typing this text at approximately 1998-04-30 20:59:07 UTC.

-tih
-- 
Popularity is the hallmark of mediocrity.  --Niles Crane, "Frasier"

30 Apr 1998 23:01:57 +0200
Tom Ivar Helbekkmo <tih+mail@Hamartun.Priv.NO>
Re: [INTERFACES] Access'97 and ODBC