Time Zone Localizations

[John Cowan]

Mark Davis scripsit:

> When I generate a date right now, and the date happens to be in the
> past at some time, I don't generate it with the conventions that would
> have applied in *on that date* (unless I am doing a historical novel,
> for example).

Well, that turns out not to be the case.  Try "date -d 1943-01-01"
on a system where GNU 'date' is available (Linux, e.g.)  Set TZ to an
American time zone first if need be.

> (Also, we looked at using the Olson TZID abbreviations, but they don't
> appear to have wide currency -- people in the countries in question
> didn't seem to be familiar with them -- so we decided not to use them.)

They are not meant to be authentic, and exist because time libraries
are expected to provide a time zone abbreviation even where they
don't really exist.

-- 
John Cowan  jcowan at reutershealth.com  www.reutershealth.com  www.ccil.org/~cowan
Rather than making ill-conceived suggestions for improvement based on
uninformed guesses about established conventions in a field of study with
which familiarity is limited, it is sometimes better to stick to merely
observing the usage and listening to the explanations offered, inserting
only questions as needed to fill in gaps in understanding. --Peter Constable