Xref: utzoo comp.text:2294 comp.std.internat:378
Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!bellcore!rutgers!ucsd!ames!killer!dcs!wnp
From: wnp@dcs.UUCP (Wolf N. Paul)
Newsgroups: comp.text,comp.std.internat
Subject: Re: Dates (was American vs. European numerical usage)
Message-ID: <183@dcs.UUCP>
Date: 24 Aug 88 13:21:38 GMT
References: <3900@enea.se> <1785@water.waterloo.edu>
Reply-To: wnp@dcs.UUCP (Wolf N. Paul)
Organization: DCS, Dallas, Texas
Lines: 25

In article <1785@water.waterloo.edu> ljdickey@water.waterloo.edu (Lee Dickey) writes:
>In article <3900@enea.se> sommar@enea.se (Erland Sommarskog) writes:
> ... [some good stuff deleted ] ...
>>                              ... So in Sweden we write the
>>date of today when we follow modern use as 88-08-21 or 880821.
>
>This pleases me.  I would like to see things advance one step further,
>so that a date like this   yyyy-mm-dd   becomes common usage.
>I shudder to think of the confusion that will arise in about 13 years
>if we do not adopt such a convention.

Actually, (YY)YY-MM-DD, or rather (YY)YY MM DD, is the way school children in
Germany and Austria are taught nowadays to write the date. I believe it is at
least a DIN and OeNORM standard (German & Austrian), and may even be an ISO/SI 
standard. Seems that Europe is ahead of North America in that respect.

As for four-digit years, even 13 years from now, most of the time it is going
to be pretty clear from the context which century a date refers to. When it is
not, common sense will dictate that people use four digits for the year. I don't
think it will cause major confusion. The world weathered the last turn of the
century, too, didn't it?
-- 
Wolf N. Paul * 3387 Sam Rayburn Run * Carrollton TX 75007 * (214) 306-9101
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