Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.
Re: 9 AM and all's well on 9-9-99
Author: Bruce Hoult Posted: 9/8/1999; 3:42:19 PM Topic: 9 AM and all's well on 9-9-99 Msg #: 10774 (In response to 10769) Prev/Next: 10773 / 10776 >When we got rid of cards and we put data onto computer discs, >we kept that same convention of read until you get to 'end of >file' -- or all nines. Well, the trouble is, september ninth >1999 is a real dateNo no no no. That's *not* the problem!
"All nines" is 99/99/99, which is not September 9th. That convention will work fine.
The *problem* is in program with data entry screens that *insist* that the operator enters a date for something, but the operator doesn't have the required information for some reason.
A reasonable program will allow you to enter null values. An unreasonable one will insist on a value.
What's the poor data entry operator to do? Make something up! 99/99/99 would be good, but maybe the program checks that what you type is a valid date and makes you do it again if it's not. So they enter 9/9/99. It doesn't matter what it is, as long as the data entry operator can recognise it later as meaning "no date" or "invalid date" or whatever.
The program -- and the programmer -- never know a thing about this. It's purely a data entry operator convention.
It's now 10:40 on 9/9/99 here in NZ and all *my* stuff is working fine :-)
-- Bruce
There are responses to this message:
- Re: 9 AM and all's well on 9-9-99, Dave W. Smith, 9/8/1999; 6:51:56 PM
- Re: 9 AM and all's well on 9-9-99, Jonathan Hendry, 9/9/1999; 5:28:28 AM
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