C#/VB.NET PublicDomain Olson Time Zone Database Implementation

[Kevin]

That is a fair criticism, however in its defense, the added
functionality in the package only adds a few hundred Kb to the size of
the DLL, so I do not understand the claim that non-TZ related code
"detracts from it's acceptance from a broad spectrum of .NET users."
Have you queried a broad spectrum/sample of .NET users?

The reason I think it is worth mentioning on the main page is that
there is no alternative, other than what Microsoft provides (as you
mention, the latest incarnation simply rounds a few edges, but makes
no significant advancements).

The sole reason why I created this package was because I could not
find such a package. Being in my shoes before I created it, I would
not care that it contained other code. Since all of the code is in the
PublicDomain, it would also be trivial for me to take out the TZ
related code (a few source files), and either build my own package or
simply insert the code files into my existing project.

However, as developer of the package, I will not create a separate
packaging of PublicDomain just to advance such a "pure"
implementation. I do not want to shatter code, and create intricate
co-dependencies, which defeats the purpose of the package as a milieu
of simple-to-use .NET code.

As for the name of the package, well I can't disagree with you, but I
don't think that it detract from the usefulness of propagating the
olson database throughout the .NET.

The net of my defense against the arguments of package size and naming
is that fundamentally it solves a problem that exists today -- lack of
olson database support in .NET. This severely impacts
interoperability, correctness, and functionality.

Thanks for the consideration

On 8/23/07, Phillip Guerra <Phillip.Guerra at nkch.org> wrote:
> When last I reviewed this package, it included a variety of librairies,
> not just the tz implementation.  In my opinion, this detracts from it's
> acceptance from a broad spectrum of .Net users.  There is alos criticism
> of the library name 'PublicDomain' as not being descriptive of the
> contents of the library.
>
> Now, I've not used the library, but after my initial review, I would not
> be an adopter of this particular implementation. I'm not sure if it
> should be the .Net defacto implementation.  However, in fairness to the
> developer, it's a start for folks wondering about how to go about this
> tz integration in a .Net MS world.  The lastest MS implementation of
> timezone information builds upon the already flawed practice of storing
> information in the registry.  Although, the data structures improved a
> bit, this implementation still leave a lot to be desired.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kevin [mailto:hellosticky at gmail.com]
> Sent: Sunday, August 19, 2007 4:55 PM
> To: tz at lecserver.nci.nih.gov
> Subject: C#/VB.NET PublicDomain Olson Time Zone Database Implementation
>
> Hi,
>
> I created a fully Public Domain .NET library which implements the Olson
> time zone database for .NET applications. The package is called
> PublicDomain and the source, binaries, and documentation are available
> at http://www.codeplex.com/PublicDomain. Olson time zone database
> support is just one part of a larger package of various pieces of public
> domain code. The package was written from scratch in C# and includes an
> objectified form of the olson time zone database (because we all know
> how fun it is to analyze the raw, obfuscated data). I also created a
> variety of unit and regression tests.
>
> The implementation used to be quite experimental, but now it has gone
> through a bit of usage and appears to be getting quite solid. I also
> wrote an article on codeproject discussing a simple use case of using
> the package
> (http://www.codeproject.com/useritems/Using_time_zones_in_NET.asp).
>
> I would appreciate it if you included a description of this package for
> those that use .NET, including C#, VB.NET, etc. on the Olson Time zone
> database home page (http://www.twinsun.com/tz/tz-link.htm) -- using some
> form of less verbose description than mine above :-).
>
> Thanks!
> Kevin
>
>
> Confidentiality Notice:  This email message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s), and may contain privileged or confidential information.  Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited.  If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by replying to this email, and destroy all copies of the original message.
>