this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2024
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Showerthoughts
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Yeah, but you have to admit mm/dd/yyyy is way more stupid. Small -> big makes more sense than middle -> small -> big
For every day purposes, absolutely. For programming? Nope, the only right answer is big->small.
Honestly, the alternative to every day use is to stop using numbers for the month
The problem with three letter month codes is language to language difference. Numbers are more universal.
https://xkcd.com/927/
Actually, I disagree that DD/MM/YYYY even qualifies as being small to big.
If you actually treat it as a counter from 01/01/2024 onward, note that the first digit that moves is actually the second digit in the 8-digit representation. In terms of significance, the most significant digit is the 5th one in the string, then counting down the significance it's 6th, then 7th, then 8th, then jumps back to the 3rd, then the 4th, then the 1st, then the 2nd.
A day is less than a month, is less than a year
12 is smaller than 31 is smaller than ∞, though.
Really, we can all come up with vastly reasonable reasons the date system we prefer makes the most sense... but in reality it's all very subjective. Not only will different methods be appropriate for different situations... but some people just prefer their own way.
It's all really moot, though. We should have been using stardates for the last 55 years anyways.