From: Fred Gilham
Subject: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <u7k6z5k00r.fsf_-_@snapdragon.csl.sri.com>
I am wondering why GET-DECODED-TIME is specified to make Monday the
first day of the week.  This is inconvenient, since most calendars
have Sunday as the first day of the week.

Am I missing something?  How do people handle this?

-- 
Fred Gilham                                         ······@csl.sri.com
A Bolshevik speaker promised his audience "come the revolution, we
will all eat strawberries and cream."  "But I dont like strawberries
and cream," responded a listener.  "Come the revolution we will *all*
eat strawberries and cream!," the Bolshevik intoned. -- Butler Shaffer

From: Greg Menke
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <m3brkhv4yw.fsf@europa.pienet>
Fred Gilham <······@snapdragon.csl.sri.com> writes:

> I am wondering why GET-DECODED-TIME is specified to make Monday the
> first day of the week.  This is inconvenient, since most calendars
> have Sunday as the first day of the week.
> 
> Am I missing something?  How do people handle this?

Don't look at a calendar?

Gregm
From: Kenny Tilton
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <Hburc.132509$WA4.34840@twister.nyc.rr.com>
Fred Gilham wrote:
> I am wondering why GET-DECODED-TIME is specified to make Monday the
> first day of the week.  This is inconvenient, since most calendars
> have Sunday as the first day of the week.
> 
> Am I missing something?  How do people handle this?
> 

Jeez, Fred, RTM:

"And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he 
rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 And God 
blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had 
rested from all his work which God created [1] and made."

Can I get an "Amen!"?

Demon Kenny

-- 
Home? http://tilton-technology.com
Cells? http://www.common-lisp.net/project/cells/
Cello? http://www.common-lisp.net/project/cello/
Why Lisp? http://alu.cliki.net/RtL%20Highlight%20Film
Your Project Here! http://alu.cliki.net/Industry%20Application
From: Dave Seaman
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <c8lslk$ll3$5@mozo.cc.purdue.edu>
On Fri, 21 May 2004 21:06:47 GMT, Kenny Tilton wrote:


> Fred Gilham wrote:
>> I am wondering why GET-DECODED-TIME is specified to make Monday the
>> first day of the week.  This is inconvenient, since most calendars
>> have Sunday as the first day of the week.
>> 
>> Am I missing something?  How do people handle this?
>> 

> Jeez, Fred, RTM:

> "And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he 
> rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 And God 
> blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had 
> rested from all his work which God created [1] and made."

> Can I get an "Amen!"?

How is that paragraph relevant?  It doesn't even mention which day is the
seventh day.

But the fact of the matter is that according to the Old Testament, the
seventh day (the Sabbath) was Saturday, not Sunday.  Making Sunday the
day of observance is entirely a Christian innovation, owing to the fact
that the Resurrection supposedly took place on a Sunday.



-- 
Dave Seaman
Judge Yohn's mistakes revealed in Mumia Abu-Jamal ruling.
<http://www.commoncouragepress.com/index.cfm?action=book&bookid=228>
From: Erann Gat
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <gNOSPAMat-5555AD.16255121052004@nntp1.jpl.nasa.gov>
In article <············@mozo.cc.purdue.edu>,
 Dave Seaman <·······@no.such.host> wrote:

> On Fri, 21 May 2004 21:06:47 GMT, Kenny Tilton wrote:
> 
> 
> > Fred Gilham wrote:
> >> I am wondering why GET-DECODED-TIME is specified to make Monday the
> >> first day of the week.  This is inconvenient, since most calendars
> >> have Sunday as the first day of the week.
> >> 
> >> Am I missing something?  How do people handle this?
> >> 
> 
> > Jeez, Fred, RTM:
> 
> > "And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he 
> > rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 And God 
> > blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had 
> > rested from all his work which God created [1] and made."
> 
> > Can I get an "Amen!"?
> 
> How is that paragraph relevant?  It doesn't even mention which day is the
> seventh day.
> 
> But the fact of the matter is that according to the Old Testament, the
> seventh day (the Sabbath) was Saturday, not Sunday.  Making Sunday the
> day of observance is entirely a Christian innovation, owing to the fact
> that the Resurrection supposedly took place on a Sunday.

Indeed.  In Hebrew, Sunday is "Yom rishon", literally, "the first day".  
Tuesday is "Yom sheini", the second day, and so on, until you get to 
Saturday, which is just Shabbat, the only day whose name is not of the 
form "the Nth day".

So not only does CL get the first day wrong, it incorrectly numbers 
weekdays using a zero base.

;-)

E.
From: Bruce Hoult
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <bruce-5FC164.14094922052004@copper.ipg.tsnz.net>
In article <·······························@nntp1.jpl.nasa.gov>,
 Erann Gat <·········@flownet.com> wrote:

> So not only does CL get the first day wrong, it incorrectly numbers 
> weekdays using a zero base.

I've always assumed that POSIX (or whatever) returns days and months 
with a zero base (while day of month, hours, minutes and seconds are 1 
based) because they are frequently used to index into C arrays of 
strings containing the name of the day or month in question.

Well, that's how I choose to remember which are zero- and which 
one-based, anyway :-)

-- Bruce
From: David Steuber
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <87d64xhxmh.fsf@david-steuber.com>
Bruce Hoult <·····@hoult.org> writes:

> In article <·······························@nntp1.jpl.nasa.gov>,
>  Erann Gat <·········@flownet.com> wrote:
> 
> > So not only does CL get the first day wrong, it incorrectly numbers 
> > weekdays using a zero base.
> 
> I've always assumed that POSIX (or whatever) returns days and months 
> with a zero base (while day of month, hours, minutes and seconds are 1 
> based) because they are frequently used to index into C arrays of 
> strings containing the name of the day or month in question.
> 
> Well, that's how I choose to remember which are zero- and which 
> one-based, anyway :-)

That is what the C newbies are told.  The real reason is to create
confusion.  Remember, C was just a prank by Dennis Ritche and Ken
Thompson.

-- 
I wouldn't mind the rat race so much if it wasn't for all the damn cats.
From: Kenny Tilton
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <1wvrc.132519$WA4.125968@twister.nyc.rr.com>
Dave Seaman wrote:

> On Fri, 21 May 2004 21:06:47 GMT, Kenny Tilton wrote:
> 
> 
> 
>>Fred Gilham wrote:
>>
>>>I am wondering why GET-DECODED-TIME is specified to make Monday the
>>>first day of the week.  This is inconvenient, since most calendars
>>>have Sunday as the first day of the week.
>>>
>>>Am I missing something?  How do people handle this?
>>>
> 
> 
>>Jeez, Fred, RTM:
> 
> 
>>"And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he 
>>rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 And God 
>>blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had 
>>rested from all his work which God created [1] and made."
> 
> 
>>Can I get an "Amen!"?
> 
> 
> How is that paragraph relevant?  It doesn't even mention which day is the
> seventh day.
> 
> But the fact of the matter is that according to the Old Testament, the
> seventh day (the Sabbath) was Saturday, not Sunday. 

Doh! I love this NG.

:)

kenny

-- 
Home? http://tilton-technology.com
Cells? http://www.common-lisp.net/project/cells/
Cello? http://www.common-lisp.net/project/cello/
Why Lisp? http://alu.cliki.net/RtL%20Highlight%20Film
Your Project Here! http://alu.cliki.net/Industry%20Application
From: Julian Stecklina
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <8665am952l.fsf@web.de>
Kenny Tilton <·······@nyc.rr.com> writes:

>>> "And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and
>>> he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3
>>> And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in
>>> it he had rested from all his work which God created [1] and made."
>>
>>>Can I get an "Amen!"?
>> How is that paragraph relevant?  It doesn't even mention which day
>> is the
>> seventh day.
>> But the fact of the matter is that according to the Old Testament,
>> the
>> seventh day (the Sabbath) was Saturday, not Sunday.
>
> Doh! I love this NG.

What about making sunday "Day 4" just for the sake of being totally
unpredictable. This would end all seemingly "fact"-based discussion
and start a real philosophical one. :-)

Regards,
-- 
Julian Stecklina 

Signed and encrypted mail welcome.
Key-Server: pgp.mit.edu         Key-ID: 0xD65B2AB5
FA38 DCD3 00EC 97B8 6DD8  D7CC 35D8 8D0E D65B 2AB5

Any sufficiently complicated C or Fortran program
contains an ad hoc informally-specified bug-ridden
slow implementation of half of Common Lisp.
 - Greenspun's Tenth Rule of Programming
From: Pascal Costanza
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <c8ltnn$8b$1@newsreader2.netcologne.de>
Dave Seaman wrote:

> On Fri, 21 May 2004 21:06:47 GMT, Kenny Tilton wrote:

>>"And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he 
>>rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 And God 
>>blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had 
>>rested from all his work which God created [1] and made."
> 
>>Can I get an "Amen!"?
> 
> How is that paragraph relevant?  It doesn't even mention which day is the
> seventh day.

It's a pity that God wasn't there at that ISO meeting. That would have 
settled it once and for all.


Pascal

-- 
1st European Lisp and Scheme Workshop
June 13 - Oslo, Norway - co-located with ECOOP 2004
http://www.cs.uni-bonn.de/~costanza/lisp-ecoop/
From: Raffael Cavallaro
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <2004052119422775249%raffaelcavallaro@pasdespamsilvousplaitdotmaccom>
On 2004-05-21 17:52:58 -0400, Pascal Costanza <········@web.de> said:

> It's a pity that God wasn't there at that ISO meeting. That would have 
> settled it once and for all.

Well, as long as there were two or more gathered at the ISO meeting, he 
was there in the midst of them.

;^)

Raf
From: Barry Margolin
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <barmar-7F3D14.19561721052004@comcast.dca.giganews.com>
In article 
<····································@pasdespamsilvousplaitdotmaccom>,
 Raffael Cavallaro 
 <················@pas-d'espam-s'il-vous-plait-dot-mac.com> wrote:

> On 2004-05-21 17:52:58 -0400, Pascal Costanza <········@web.de> said:
> 
> > It's a pity that God wasn't there at that ISO meeting. That would have 
> > settled it once and for all.
> 
> Well, as long as there were two or more gathered at the ISO meeting, he 
> was there in the midst of them.

But does he have a vote?

-- 
Barry Margolin, ······@alum.mit.edu
Arlington, MA
*** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me ***
From: Christophe Rhodes
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <sqad00okm2.fsf@cam.ac.uk>
Barry Margolin <······@alum.mit.edu> writes:

> In article 
> <····································@pasdespamsilvousplaitdotmaccom>,
>  Raffael Cavallaro 
>  <················@pas-d'espam-s'il-vous-plait-dot-mac.com> wrote:
>> Well, as long as there were two or more gathered at the ISO meeting, he 
>> was there in the midst of them.
>
> But does he have a vote?

Probably not.  He hadn't been paying His membership dues, so he was
stripped of his voting rights and duly ignored.

Christophe
-- 
http://www-jcsu.jesus.cam.ac.uk/~csr21/       +44 1223 510 299/+44 7729 383 757
(set-pprint-dispatch 'number (lambda (s o) (declare (special b)) (format s b)))
(defvar b "~&Just another Lisp hacker~%")    (pprint #36rJesusCollegeCambridge)
From: Raffael Cavallaro
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <2004052316013350073%raffaelcavallaro@pasdespamsilvousplaitdotmaccom>
On 2004-05-22 05:51:33 -0400, Christophe Rhodes <·····@cam.ac.uk> said:

> Probably not.  He hadn't been paying His membership dues, so he was
> stripped of his voting rights and duly ignored.

I would say that being scourged and crucified constitues "paying one's 
dues," wouldn't you?

;^)

Or...

Maybe he was taking this whole "sell all you posess and give it to the 
poor" thing way to seriously."

;^)



Raf
From: ······@nordebo.com
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <87k6z0wq3r.fsf@pluto.elizium.org>
Raffael Cavallaro
<················@pas-d'espam-s'il-vous-plait-dot-mac.com> writes:

> On 2004-05-22 05:51:33 -0400, Christophe Rhodes <·····@cam.ac.uk> said:
> 
> > Probably not.  He hadn't been paying His membership dues, so he was
> > stripped of his voting rights and duly ignored.
> 
> I would say that being scourged and crucified constitues "paying one's
> dues," wouldn't you?

I'm afraid you'll find the ISO doesn't consider that satisfactory
payment of membership dues, but as the saying goes, "it never hurts to
try".
From: Gareth McCaughan
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <87smdoq9q8.fsf@g.mccaughan.ntlworld.com>
······@nordebo.com writes:

> Raffael Cavallaro
> <················@pas-d'espam-s'il-vous-plait-dot-mac.com> writes:
> 
> > On 2004-05-22 05:51:33 -0400, Christophe Rhodes <·····@cam.ac.uk> said:
> > 
> > > Probably not.  He hadn't been paying His membership dues, so he was
> > > stripped of his voting rights and duly ignored.
> > 
> > I would say that being scourged and crucified constitues "paying one's
> > dues," wouldn't you?
> 
> I'm afraid you'll find the ISO doesn't consider that satisfactory
> payment of membership dues, but as the saying goes, "it never hurts to
> try".

I think that in this particular case, hurt is exactly what it did.
On the other hand, it is possible that he had something in mind
other than membership of the appropriate ISO committee.

-- 
Gareth McCaughan
.sig under construc
From: Fred Gilham
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <u7y8nkh1t3.fsf@snapdragon.csl.sri.com>
Kenny Tilton <·······@nyc.rr.com> writes:

> Fred Gilham wrote:
> > I am wondering why GET-DECODED-TIME is specified to make Monday the
> > first day of the week.  This is inconvenient, since most calendars
> > have Sunday as the first day of the week.
> > 
> > Am I missing something?  How do people handle this?
> > 
> 
> Jeez, Fred, RTM:
> 
> "And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he 
> rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 And God 
> blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had 
> rested from all his work which God created [1] and made."
> 
> Can I get an "Amen!"?
> 
> Demon Kenny

I was trying to avoid dealing with the theological implications.  What
I found more perplexing was that an American standard (ANSI) should
adopt a European convention in opposition to the usual American
practice.

I'm an isolationist.  I believe the US should have stayed out of WWI
and the Spanish American war was an abomination.  1/2 :-)

-- 
Fred Gilham                                         ······@csl.sri.com
A Bolshevik speaker promised his audience "come the revolution, we
will all eat strawberries and cream."  "But I dont like strawberries
and cream," responded a listener.  "Come the revolution we will *all*
eat strawberries and cream!," the Bolshevik intoned. -- Butler Shaffer
From: Thomas F. Burdick
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <xcvn040unk7.fsf@famine.OCF.Berkeley.EDU>
Fred Gilham <······@snapdragon.csl.sri.com> writes:

> I was trying to avoid dealing with the theological implications.  What
> I found more perplexing was that an American standard (ANSI) should
> adopt a European convention in opposition to the usual American
> practice.

It's /traditionally/ American to start the day on Sunday, but for
business purposes, even in this country we start the week on Monday.

-- 
           /|_     .-----------------------.                        
         ,'  .\  / | No to Imperialist war |                        
     ,--'    _,'   | Wage class war!       |                        
    /       /      `-----------------------'                        
   (   -.  |                               
   |     ) |                               
  (`-.  '--.)                              
   `. )----'                               
From: David Steuber
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <873c5rhnfv.fsf@david-steuber.com>
···@famine.OCF.Berkeley.EDU (Thomas F. Burdick) writes:

> Fred Gilham <······@snapdragon.csl.sri.com> writes:
> 
> > I was trying to avoid dealing with the theological implications.  What
> > I found more perplexing was that an American standard (ANSI) should
> > adopt a European convention in opposition to the usual American
> > practice.
> 
> It's /traditionally/ American to start the day on Sunday, but for
> business purposes, even in this country we start the week on Monday.

I think it is also ANSI practice to asign monday to 0.  Look at the tm
struct in ANSI C (although that does predate ANSI C).

As for the deal with the calendars, the explaination is simple.  By
seperating saturday and sunday on the calender to put the working days
in the middle, the weekends look non-contiguous.  This makes it easier
for employers to ask you to come in on a saturday.

-- 
I wouldn't mind the rat race so much if it wasn't for all the damn cats.
From: Thomas F. Burdick
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <xcv7jv2vrhn.fsf@famine.OCF.Berkeley.EDU>
David Steuber <·····@david-steuber.com> writes:

> ···@famine.OCF.Berkeley.EDU (Thomas F. Burdick) writes:
> 
> > Fred Gilham <······@snapdragon.csl.sri.com> writes:
> > 
> > > I was trying to avoid dealing with the theological implications.  What
> > > I found more perplexing was that an American standard (ANSI) should
> > > adopt a European convention in opposition to the usual American
> > > practice.
> > 
> > It's /traditionally/ American to start the day on Sunday, but for
> > business purposes, even in this country we start the week on Monday.
> 
> I think it is also ANSI practice to asign monday to 0.  Look at the tm
> struct in ANSI C (although that does predate ANSI C).

Hmm, I'd think that's more of an effect (of standardizing pre-existing
practice) than a cause.

> As for the deal with the calendars, the explaination is simple.  By
> seperating saturday and sunday on the calender to put the working days
> in the middle, the weekends look non-contiguous.  This makes it easier
> for employers to ask you to come in on a saturday.

I'm pretty sure the convention of starting the week with Sunday is
purely traditional and religious; everywhere I've ever worked, work
schedules and commercial calendars all started the week with Monday.

-- 
           /|_     .-----------------------.                        
         ,'  .\  / | No to Imperialist war |                        
     ,--'    _,'   | Wage class war!       |                        
    /       /      `-----------------------'                        
   (   -.  |                               
   |     ) |                               
  (`-.  '--.)                              
   `. )----'                               
From: David Magda
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <864qq567a6.fsf@number6.magda.ca>
···@famine.OCF.Berkeley.EDU (Thomas F. Burdick) writes:

> It's /traditionally/ American to start the day on Sunday, but for

I thought days started at 00:00:00 and ended on 23:59:59.

(Except for leap seconds of course.)

-- 
David Magda <dmagda at ee.ryerson.ca>, http://www.magda.ca/
Because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under
the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well 
under the new. -- Niccolo Machiavelli, _The Prince_, Chapter VI
From: Coby Beck
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <muvsc.7909$L.1889@news-server.bigpond.net.au>
"David Magda" <··················@ee.ryerson.ca> wrote in message
···················@number6.magda.ca...
> ···@famine.OCF.Berkeley.EDU (Thomas F. Burdick) writes:
>
> > It's /traditionally/ American to start the day on Sunday, but for
>
> I thought days started at 00:00:00 and ended on 23:59:59.

And what happens between 23:59:59 and 00:00:00 the next day?  That's alot of
CPU cycles! :)

-- 
Coby Beck
(remove #\Space "coby 101 @ big pond . com")
From: Ingvar
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <m2smdoeueu.fsf@head.cathouse.bofh.se>
"Coby Beck" <·····@mercury.bc.ca> writes:

> "David Magda" <··················@ee.ryerson.ca> wrote in message
> ···················@number6.magda.ca...
> > ···@famine.OCF.Berkeley.EDU (Thomas F. Burdick) writes:
> >
> > > It's /traditionally/ American to start the day on Sunday, but for
> >
> > I thought days started at 00:00:00 and ended on 23:59:59.
> 
> And what happens between 23:59:59 and 00:00:00 the next day?  That's alot of
> CPU cycles! :)

Well, 24:00:00 on day N is the same instant as 00:00:00 on day
N+1. I'll leave 23:59:60 as an exercise for the reader.

//Ingvar
-- 
(defun m (f)
  (let ((db (make-hash-table :test #'equal)))
    #'(lambda (&rest a)
        (or (gethash a db) (setf (gethash a db) (apply f a))))))
From: David Steuber
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <87brkcy1d3.fsf@david-steuber.com>
Ingvar <······@hexapodia.net> writes:

> Well, 24:00:00 on day N is the same instant as 00:00:00 on day
> N+1. I'll leave 23:59:60 as an exercise for the reader.

Is that what they mean by time aliasing?  Dithering with the clock
can't be a good thing.

-- 
I wouldn't mind the rat race so much if it wasn't for all the damn cats.
From: Ingvar
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <m2ekp8ech2.fsf@head.cathouse.bofh.se>
David Steuber <·····@david-steuber.com> writes:

> Ingvar <······@hexapodia.net> writes:
> 
> > Well, 24:00:00 on day N is the same instant as 00:00:00 on day
> > N+1. I'll leave 23:59:60 as an exercise for the reader.
> 
> Is that what they mean by time aliasing?  Dithering with the clock
> can't be a good thing.

Erm, qouldn't know. Depending on exactly what you want to do, the
instant "midnight" makes sense either as a delimiter for the previous
day or for the following day (or both) and it thus has two notations.

23:59:60 only exists on a day with a leap second and is thus, to the
best of my understanding, never the same as either 24:00:00 or
00:00:00.

//Ingvar
-- 
Self-referencing
Five, seven, five syllables
This haiku contains
From: Hannah Schroeter
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <c8vgsf$3eh$1@c3po.use.schlund.de>
Hello!

Ingvar  <······@hexapodia.net> wrote:
>[...]

>Well, 24:00:00 on day N is the same instant as 00:00:00 on day
>N+1. I'll leave 23:59:60 as an exercise for the reader.

Depends on whether there's a leap second inserted (then 23:59:60
not equal to 00:00:00 next day).

Does Lisp (as in ANSI, of course) reflect leap seconds at all?

Kind regards,

Hannah.
From: Joe Marshall
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <lljgblin.fsf@ccs.neu.edu>
······@schlund.de (Hannah Schroeter) writes:

> Hello!
>
> Ingvar  <······@hexapodia.net> wrote:
>>[...]
>
>>Well, 24:00:00 on day N is the same instant as 00:00:00 on day
>>N+1. I'll leave 23:59:60 as an exercise for the reader.
>
> Depends on whether there's a leap second inserted (then 23:59:60
> not equal to 00:00:00 next day).
>
> Does Lisp (as in ANSI, of course) reflect leap seconds at all?

Section 25.1.4.2 says:
  ``Universal time is an absolute time represented as a single
    non-negative integer---the number of seconds since midnight, January
    1, 1900 GMT (ignoring leap seconds).''

Since there have been 22 leap seconds added since the practice was
begun in 1972, I guess that a `conforming' lisp implementation ought
to seem slow by 22 seconds!
From: Barry Margolin
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <barmar-1AE27F.12240925052004@comcast.dca.giganews.com>
In article <············@ccs.neu.edu>, Joe Marshall <···@ccs.neu.edu> 
wrote:

> ······@schlund.de (Hannah Schroeter) writes:
> 
> > Hello!
> >
> > Ingvar  <······@hexapodia.net> wrote:
> >>[...]
> >
> >>Well, 24:00:00 on day N is the same instant as 00:00:00 on day
> >>N+1. I'll leave 23:59:60 as an exercise for the reader.
> >
> > Depends on whether there's a leap second inserted (then 23:59:60
> > not equal to 00:00:00 next day).
> >
> > Does Lisp (as in ANSI, of course) reflect leap seconds at all?
> 
> Section 25.1.4.2 says:
>   ``Universal time is an absolute time represented as a single
>     non-negative integer---the number of seconds since midnight, January
>     1, 1900 GMT (ignoring leap seconds).''
> 
> Since there have been 22 leap seconds added since the practice was
> begun in 1972, I guess that a `conforming' lisp implementation ought
> to seem slow by 22 seconds!

That's actually an interesting issue.  When you ask for the current time 
as a universal time, it presumably gets it from the OS, so it depends on 
whether the system's time includes leap seconds; I wouldn't expect a CL 
implementation to go out of its way to subtract the leap seconds off 
(and if the system operator just sets the system clock from his watch, 
it's unlikely that the time is accurate enough that this is even 
significant).  But when you use ENCODE/DECODE-UNIVERSAL-TIME, the 
conversion formula is supposed to ignore leap seconds.

-- 
Barry Margolin, ······@alum.mit.edu
Arlington, MA
*** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me ***
From: Antony Sequeira
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <XVLsc.56843$zM7.4984@newssvr29.news.prodigy.com>
Joe Marshall wrote:
> ······@schlund.de (Hannah Schroeter) writes:
> 
> 
>>Hello!
>>
>>Ingvar  <······@hexapodia.net> wrote:
>>
>>>[...]
>>
>>>Well, 24:00:00 on day N is the same instant as 00:00:00 on day
>>>N+1. I'll leave 23:59:60 as an exercise for the reader.
>>
>>Depends on whether there's a leap second inserted (then 23:59:60
>>not equal to 00:00:00 next day).
>>
>>Does Lisp (as in ANSI, of course) reflect leap seconds at all?
> 
> 
> Section 25.1.4.2 says:
>   ``Universal time is an absolute time represented as a single
>     non-negative integer---the number of seconds since midnight, January
>     1, 1900 GMT (ignoring leap seconds).''
> 
> Since there have been 22 leap seconds added since the practice was
> begun in 1972, I guess that a `conforming' lisp implementation ought
> to seem slow by 22 seconds!
FWIW
 From the linux time(2) man page:

        POSIX.1  defines  seconds since the Epoch as a value to be
        interpreted as the number of seconds between  a  specified
        time  and the Epoch, according to a formula for conversion
        from UTC equivalent to conversion on the na�ve basis  that
        leap  seconds are ignored and all years divisible by 4 are
        leap years.  This value is not the same as the actual num�
        ber  of seconds between the time and the Epoch, because of
        leap seconds and because clocks are  not  required  to  be
        synchronised  to  a  standard reference.  The intention is
        that the interpretation of seconds since the Epoch  values
        be  consistent;  see  POSIX.1  Annex  B  2.2.2 for further
        rationale.

-Antony
From: Rob Warnock
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <fbadnY-NEOVYUS7dRVn-vg@speakeasy.net>
Antony Sequeira  <·············@hotmail.com> wrote:
+---------------
|  From the linux time(2) man page:
|         POSIX.1  defines  seconds since the Epoch as a value to be
|         interpreted as the number of seconds between  a  specified
|         time  and the Epoch, according to a formula for conversion
|         from UTC equivalent to conversion on the na�ve basis  that
|         leap  seconds are ignored and all years divisible by 4 are
|         leap years.
+---------------

Which means that *POSIX HAS A Y2K BUG!!*


-Rob

-----
Rob Warnock			<····@rpw3.org>
627 26th Avenue			<URL:http://rpw3.org/>
San Mateo, CA 94403		(650)572-2607
From: Rob Warnock
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <F-GdnSsMKvYKjSndRVn-ug@speakeasy.net>
Oops! I just wrote:
+---------------
| Antony Sequeira  <·············@hotmail.com> wrote:
| +---------------
| |  From the linux time(2) man page:
| |         POSIX.1 ...  all years divisible by 4 are leap years.
| +---------------
| 
| Which means that *POSIX HAS A Y2K BUG!!*
+---------------

(*blush!*) What a ghastly typo/brain-fart. Sorry 'bout that.
What I meant was of course this:

    Which means that *POSIX HAS A Y2100 BUG!!*

And of course the Y2038 bug will strike first, anyway.


-Rob

-----
Rob Warnock			<····@rpw3.org>
627 26th Avenue			<URL:http://rpw3.org/>
San Mateo, CA 94403		(650)572-2607
From: David Steuber
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <87d64rx20e.fsf@david-steuber.com>
Joe Marshall <···@ccs.neu.edu> writes:

> Since there have been 22 leap seconds added since the practice was
> begun in 1972, I guess that a `conforming' lisp implementation ought
> to seem slow by 22 seconds!

So Lisp is slow after all.

I thought my time problems were sorted once I started using NTP.

-- 
I wouldn't mind the rat race so much if it wasn't for all the damn cats.
From: Thomas F. Burdick
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <xcvu0y3u7ze.fsf@famine.OCF.Berkeley.EDU>
David Steuber <·····@david-steuber.com> writes:

> Joe Marshall <···@ccs.neu.edu> writes:
> 
> > Since there have been 22 leap seconds added since the practice was
> > begun in 1972, I guess that a `conforming' lisp implementation ought
> > to seem slow by 22 seconds!
> 
> So Lisp is slow after all.

Yeah, but only by half a minute since the early 70s -- think of it as
one extra reboot in 30 years.  And we can console ourselves that by
the 2040s when we're up to a full minute, C will have had its buffer
overrun.

-- 
           /|_     .-----------------------.                        
         ,'  .\  / | No to Imperialist war |                        
     ,--'    _,'   | Wage class war!       |                        
    /       /      `-----------------------'                        
   (   -.  |                               
   |     ) |                               
  (`-.  '--.)                              
   `. )----'                               
From: Raymond Wiker
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <86n03vx1cp.fsf@raw.grenland.fast.no>
David Steuber <·····@david-steuber.com> writes:

> Joe Marshall <···@ccs.neu.edu> writes:
>
>> Since there have been 22 leap seconds added since the practice was
>> begun in 1972, I guess that a `conforming' lisp implementation ought
>> to seem slow by 22 seconds!
>
> So Lisp is slow after all.
>
> I thought my time problems were sorted once I started using NTP.

        I think this is the other way round... since Lisp has "lost"
the 22 leap seconds, it's actually ahead of it's time. I'm a bit
surprised that it's only 22 seconds, though.

-- 
Raymond Wiker                        Mail:  ·············@fast.no
Senior Software Engineer             Web:   http://www.fast.no/
Fast Search & Transfer ASA           Phone: +47 23 01 11 60
P.O. Box 1677 Vika                   Fax:   +47 35 54 87 99
NO-0120 Oslo, NORWAY                 Mob:   +47 48 01 11 60

Try FAST Search: http://alltheweb.com/
From: Rob Warnock
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <nu6dnQsCfPgmVy7dRVn-sQ@speakeasy.net>
Hannah Schroeter <······@schlund.de> wrote:
+---------------
| Does Lisp (as in ANSI, of course) reflect leap seconds at all?
+---------------

No. See CLHS "25.1.4.2 Universal Time":

    Universal time is an absolute time represented as a single
    non-negative integer---the number of seconds since midnight,
    January 1, 1900 GMT (ignoring leap seconds).


-Rob

-----
Rob Warnock			<····@rpw3.org>
627 26th Avenue			<URL:http://rpw3.org/>
San Mateo, CA 94403		(650)572-2607
From: André Thieme
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <c8tvps$aal$1@ulric.tng.de>
Thomas F. Burdick wrote:
> Fred Gilham <······@snapdragon.csl.sri.com> writes:
> 
> 
>>I was trying to avoid dealing with the theological implications.  What
>>I found more perplexing was that an American standard (ANSI) should
>>adopt a European convention in opposition to the usual American
>>practice.
> 
> 
> It's /traditionally/ American to start the day on Sunday, but for
> business purposes, even in this country we start the week on Monday.
> 

And who started with this tradition? The "first" americans, the indians?
I mean, america is populated to a big part with people who originally 
came from europe. So either some hundred years ago in europe we counted 
wrong (starting with sunday) and corrected it to the real begin of the 
week when already enough europeans moved to america to start there a 
tradition...


Andr�
--
From: Casper H.S. Dik
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <40af6dfb$0$15375$e4fe514c@news.xs4all.nl>
Kenny Tilton <·······@nyc.rr.com> writes:



>Fred Gilham wrote:
>> I am wondering why GET-DECODED-TIME is specified to make Monday the
>> first day of the week.  This is inconvenient, since most calendars
>> have Sunday as the first day of the week.
>> 
>> Am I missing something?  How do people handle this?
>> 

>Jeez, Fred, RTM:

>"And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he 
>rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 And God 
>blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had 
>rested from all his work which God created [1] and made."

That was on saturday, the sabbat; not on sunday.

Casper
-- 
Expressed in this posting are my opinions.  They are in no way related
to opinions held by my employer, Sun Microsystems.
Statements on Sun products included here are not gospel and may
be fiction rather than truth.
From: Edi Weitz
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <m3pt8xjzbf.fsf@bird.agharta.de>
On 21 May 2004 13:17:40 -0700, Fred Gilham <······@snapdragon.csl.sri.com> wrote:

> I am wondering why GET-DECODED-TIME is specified to make Monday the
> first day of the week.  This is inconvenient, since most calendars
> have Sunday as the first day of the week.

That's the ISO standard. It's also how it's handled in most European
countries. (All? Don't know about the UK... :)

> Am I missing something?  How do people handle this?

I just leave it like it is... :)

Edi.
From: Rainer Joswig
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <joswig-785F42.22383521052004@individual.net>
In article <·················@snapdragon.csl.sri.com>,
 Fred Gilham <······@snapdragon.csl.sri.com> wrote:

> I am wondering why GET-DECODED-TIME is specified to make Monday the
> first day of the week.  This is inconvenient, since most calendars
> have Sunday as the first day of the week.

Not in Europe. Here in Germany for example the week starts
with monday.
> 
> Am I missing something?  How do people handle this?

By simple arithmetic?
From: Alexander Schreiber
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <slrncastil.on2.als@mordor.angband.thangorodrim.de>
Fred Gilham <······@snapdragon.csl.sri.com> wrote:
> 
> I am wondering why GET-DECODED-TIME is specified to make Monday the
> first day of the week.  This is inconvenient, since most calendars
> have Sunday as the first day of the week.

Only if you limit your "most" to "most calendars in the US of A".
Calendars in at least europe usually start on monday.
 
> Am I missing something?

Yes. There are funny american habits and there are ISO standards ;-)
Starting the week with monday is european (and AFAIK ISO) standard, so
it is correct for Common Lisp to follow this.

> How do people handle this?

Very basic arithmetic should suffice to fit your needs.

Regards,
       Alex.
-- 
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and
 looks like work."                                      -- Thomas A. Edison
From: Steven M. Haflich
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <ouBrc.71105$es2.30770@newssvr25.news.prodigy.com>
Fred Gilham wrote:

> I am wondering why GET-DECODED-TIME is specified to make Monday the
> first day of the week.  This is inconvenient, since most calendars
> have Sunday as the first day of the week.

For reason of consistency:  Monday is day 0 because Tuesday is day 1.
From: Reini Urban
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <9fdb4c8c.0405220400.2cab729a@posting.google.com>
"Steven M. Haflich" <·················@alum.mit.edu> wrote in message news:<·····················@newssvr25.news.prodigy.com>...
> Fred Gilham wrote:
> > I am wondering why GET-DECODED-TIME is specified to make Monday the
> > first day of the week.  This is inconvenient, since most calendars
> > have Sunday as the first day of the week.
> 
> For reason of consistency:  Monday is day 0 because Tuesday is day 1.

But Erann Gat just told us that "Tuesday is "Yom sheini", the second day,"
From: Kenny Tilton
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <BeKrc.133414$WA4.99235@twister.nyc.rr.com>
Reini Urban wrote:

> "Steven M. Haflich" <·················@alum.mit.edu> wrote in message news:<·····················@newssvr25.news.prodigy.com>...
> 
>>Fred Gilham wrote:
>>
>>>I am wondering why GET-DECODED-TIME is specified to make Monday the
>>>first day of the week.  This is inconvenient, since most calendars
>>>have Sunday as the first day of the week.
>>
>>For reason of consistency:  Monday is day 0 because Tuesday is day 1.
> 
> 
> But Erann Gat just told us that "Tuesday is "Yom sheini", the second day,"

What do you expect of a programmer? Classic off-by-one error. Yom Sheini 
is Monday, Tuesday is Yom Slishi.

:)

kenny

-- 
Home? http://tilton-technology.com
Cells? http://www.common-lisp.net/project/cells/
Cello? http://www.common-lisp.net/project/cello/
Why Lisp? http://alu.cliki.net/RtL%20Highlight%20Film
Your Project Here! http://alu.cliki.net/Industry%20Application
From: Oyvin Halfdan Thuv
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <7owu34twmf.fsf@apollo.orakel.ntnu.no>
Fred Gilham <······@snapdragon.csl.sri.com> writes:

> I am wondering why GET-DECODED-TIME is specified to make Monday the
> first day of the week.  This is inconvenient, since most calendars
> have Sunday as the first day of the week.
> 
> Am I missing something?  How do people handle this?

Yes, at least two things:

- Sunday as the first day of the week is a USA-ian idea (maybe originaly
  jewish, as some people have mentioned).

- Most of the world is not in the USA.

Eval, and apply normal means of deduction to produce a handle-function :)

-- 
Oyvin
From: Stefan Scholl
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <xghgpmjz4xb3$.dlg@parsec.no-spoon.de>
On 2004-05-22 15:33:12, Oyvin Halfdan Thuv wrote:

> - Most of the world is not in the USA.

ANSI Common Lisp doesn't seem to care much about that.
From: Julian Stecklina
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <86y8ni7q80.fsf@web.de>
Stefan Scholl <······@no-spoon.de> writes:

> On 2004-05-22 15:33:12, Oyvin Halfdan Thuv wrote:
>
>> - Most of the world is not in the USA.
>
> ANSI Common Lisp doesn't seem to care much about that.

Where?

Regards,
-- 
Julian Stecklina 

Signed and encrypted mail welcome.
Key-Server: pgp.mit.edu         Key-ID: 0xD65B2AB5
FA38 DCD3 00EC 97B8 6DD8  D7CC 35D8 8D0E D65B 2AB5

Any sufficiently complicated C or Fortran program
contains an ad hoc informally-specified bug-ridden
slow implementation of half of Common Lisp.
 - Greenspun's Tenth Rule of Programming
From: Stefan Scholl
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <ew8034u1fhy8.dlg@parsec.no-spoon.de>
On 2004-05-24 00:06:55, Julian Stecklina wrote:
> Stefan Scholl <······@no-spoon.de> writes:
>> On 2004-05-22 15:33:12, Oyvin Halfdan Thuv wrote:
>>> - Most of the world is not in the USA.
>>
>> ANSI Common Lisp doesn't seem to care much about that.
> 
> Where?

http://www.lispworks.com/reference/HyperSpec/Body/f_y_or_n.htm
http://www.lispworks.com/reference/HyperSpec/Body/22_cba.htm
...
From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <m3pt8ukamv.fsf@quimbies.gnus.org>
Stefan Scholl <······@no-spoon.de> writes:

> On 2004-05-24 00:06:55, Julian Stecklina wrote:
>> Stefan Scholl <······@no-spoon.de> writes:
>>> On 2004-05-22 15:33:12, Oyvin Halfdan Thuv wrote:
>>>> - Most of the world is not in the USA.
>>>
>>> ANSI Common Lisp doesn't seem to care much about that.
>> 
>> Where?
>
> http://www.lispworks.com/reference/HyperSpec/Body/f_y_or_n.htm

The standard doesn't specify what the response should be.  If an
implementation accepted "Nein" for "No" and "Klaato Barada Niktoo" for
"Yes", then that'd be compliant.

> http://www.lispworks.com/reference/HyperSpec/Body/22_cba.htm

Well, you have more of a point here, but the English-speaking world
is lot bigger than the US.

Keep searching.  

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
  ·····@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
From: David Magda
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <868yfh67d6.fsf@number6.magda.ca>
Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <·····@gnus.org> writes:
[...]
> implementation accepted "Nein" for "No" and "Klaato Barada Niktoo"
[...]

Geez! It's "Klaatu Barada Nikto". Can't you get anything right?
                ^^^          ^^^

  :>

-- 
David Magda <dmagda at ee.ryerson.ca>, http://www.magda.ca/
Because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under
the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well 
under the new. -- Niccolo Machiavelli, _The Prince_, Chapter VI
From: Thomas Schilling
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <opr8iyrn0atrs3c0@news.CIS.DFN.DE>
David Magda wrote:
> Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <·····@gnus.org> writes:
> [...]
>> implementation accepted "Nein" for "No" and "Klaato Barada Niktoo"
> [...]
>
> Geez! It's "Klaatu Barada Nikto". Can't you get anything right?
>                 ^^^          ^^^
>
>   :>

He got "Nein" right.

;)
From: Alexander Schreiber
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <slrncb30kl.vjo.als@mordor.angband.thangorodrim.de>
Stefan Scholl <······@no-spoon.de> wrote:
> On 2004-05-24 00:06:55, Julian Stecklina wrote:
>> Stefan Scholl <······@no-spoon.de> writes:
>>> On 2004-05-22 15:33:12, Oyvin Halfdan Thuv wrote:
>>>> - Most of the world is not in the USA.
>>>
>>> ANSI Common Lisp doesn't seem to care much about that.
>> 
>> Where?
> 
> http://www.lispworks.com/reference/HyperSpec/Body/f_y_or_n.htm
> http://www.lispworks.com/reference/HyperSpec/Body/22_cba.htm

It uses english, fine. The USA is only a small subset of the english
speaking world.

Regards,
       Alex.
-- 
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and
 looks like work."                                      -- Thomas A. Edison
From: Raffael Cavallaro
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <2004052421532043658%raffaelcavallaro@pasdespamsilvousplaitdotmaccom>
On 2004-05-24 01:05:25 -0400, Alexander Schreiber 
<···@usenet.thangorodrim.de> said:

>> http://www.lispworks.com/reference/HyperSpec/Body/f_y_or_n.htm
>> http://www.lispworks.com/reference/HyperSpec/Body/22_cba.htm
> 
> It uses english, fine. The USA is only a small subset of the english
> speaking world.


It's worth reading the mission statement of ANSI:

"The Institute's mission is to enhance both the global competitiveness 
of U.S. business and the U.S. quality of life by promoting and 
facilitating voluntary consensus standards and conformity assessment 
systems, and safeguarding their integrity."

ANSI exists to promote standards that favor the U.S., not standards 
that favor some generic English speaking world. It would be a 
misinterpretation of ANSI's mission statement to believe that ANSI 
standards are meant to promulgate some hybrid of the numerous dialects 
of English. Rather, ANSI standards seek to promote U.S. interests, 
which means, U.S. English.

We've been round this block before on c.l.l. See:

<http://groups.google.com/groups?q=ansi+raffael+cavallaro&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&selm=aeb7ff58.0401231013.585e7eb8%40posting.google.com&rnum=2>


If 



If one wants a non-US centric lisp, there are EuLisp and ISLISP.

Just to reiterate what I wrote in a previous post, this is merely a 
portability issue, *not* a political issue. If people read the standard 
as meaning any dialect of English, as opposed to U.S. english, various 
bits of otherwise portable code will break. Nothing earth shattering 
mind you, but there's little point in having a standard that's so vague 
as to be meaningless. If you doubt this latter part, (the "so vague as 
to be meaningless" bit) please first survey the wide range of English 
dialects, from the U.K., to Africa, Australia, U.S., etc., first. Some 
are mutually unintelligible. Remember, _The Harder They Come_ was a 
film in English (Jamaican dialect),  that had to be released with U.S. 
English subtitles in the U.S., as most U.S. audiences could not 
understand the dialog.
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070155/>
From: Stefan Scholl
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <1d1zq2iyp821w$.dlg@parsec.no-spoon.de>
On 2004-05-25 03:53:20, Raffael Cavallaro wrote:

> Remember, _The Harder They Come_ was a 
> film in English (Jamaican dialect),  that had to be released with U.S. 
> English subtitles in the U.S., as most U.S. audiences could not 
> understand the dialog.
> <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070155/>

And "Mad Max" <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079501/> was dubbed for
the US release. :-)
From: Tim Bradshaw
Subject: Re: Why is Monday day 0?
Date: 
Message-ID: <fbc0f5d1.0405251007.5a600ee2@posting.google.com>
Oyvin Halfdan Thuv <·····@remove.spam.oyvins.net> wrote in message news:<··············@apollo.orakel.ntnu.no>...

> - Sunday as the first day of the week is a USA-ian idea (maybe originaly
>   jewish, as some people have mentioned).

This isn't true.  In the UK, diaries and so on would traditionally run
Sunday to Saturday.  Starting them on Monday is a pretty new-fangled
thing.  It's still reasonably common to find diaries and so on which
start on Sunday, although they are, unfortunately, becoming less
common.  100 years ago I doubt if you'd have found many which started
on Monday.

--tim