Re: [office] Date and Timezone: draft text

[Andreas J Guelzow <aguelzow@math.concordia.ab.ca>]

On Sun, 2008-07-06 at 11:49 -0400, robert_weir@us.ibm.com wrote:
> 
> For reference, here is how OOXML defines it: 
> 
> ----------- 
> 
> 18.17.4 Dates and Times 
> 
> Each unique instant in SpreadsheetML time is stored as an ISO
> 8601-formatted string, which is made up of a date component, a time
> component, and a timezone component. Numerous functions take dates
> and/or times as arguments. Functions that care only about the date
> shall ignore any time information that is provided. Functions that
> care only about the time shall ignore any date information 
> that is provided. 
> 
> [Example: The date 22 November 1976 at exactly 08:30 Pacific Standard
> Time (+08:00 UTC) could be represented in the following
> (non-exhaustive list of) ways within SpreadsheetML: 
> 
> 1976-11-22T08:30:00,000+08:00 
> 
> 1976-11-22T16:30Z 
> end example] 

Given that a date-time has at least 25 different representations (and
likely many more), the statement "Functions that care only about the
time shall ignore any date information that is provided" means that
those functions would not  well defined.

How is this ever supposed to make sense?

Andreas


-- 
"Liberty consists less in acting according to
one's own pleasure, than in not being subject 
to the will and pleasure of other people. It 
consists also in our not subjecting the wills 
of other people to our own."  Rousseau


Prof. Dr. Andreas J. Guelzow
Dept. of Mathematical & Computing Sciences
Concordia University College of Alberta