[Coco] NitrOS-9/OS-9 feature suggestion

[K. Pruitt]

Yeah, I guess it really is a much bigger task than I realized.

I was thinking of something simpler.

Something along the lines of a text file in the SYS directory which contains 
info such as

Offset From GMT
DST Offset (0 if not in effect)
Latitude
Longitude.

The time itself is provided by NitrOS-9/OS-9 so that rather huge aspect is 
covered.

The format would have to be fleshed out and formalized, but this could just 
be user-entered data specific to their time and location. It would be up to 
the programmer to utilize the data in the file to calculate whatever data is 
required.

Just this basic info would establish the exact time and location for a 
particular CoCo. And from that information pretty much any other time 
calculation can be done. Be it earth-based or sky-based.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "William Astle"
Sent: Sunday, August 09, 2015 9:41 AM
Subject: Re: [Coco] NitrOS-9/OS-9 feature suggestion


> Doing timezones correctly is *hard*. Not only do you have changing offsets 
> from UTC, but you have all the random rules for handling DST or not 
> depending on the location. And the best part is that the specific handling 
> of time zones also depends on the specific time being handled since the 
> definitions change over time.
>
> There is a crazy amount of data related to timezones that is kept by Linux 
> and other systems. Linux has no idea where it is located. The time zone is 
> set by simply selecting a time zone which selects a specific data file to 
> be used for identifying all the rules for figuring out the local time.
>
> On 2015-08-09 09:35, John Guin wrote:
>> I fought with time zones while I was on the Exchange and Outlook teams 
>> with Microsoft for more than 10 years.
>>
>> The last I saw, there were somewhere around 157 time zones that 
>> Exchange/OL supported.  They constantly change (Venezuela was a great 
>> example - they decided mid week to change their time zone during the next 
>> weekend) and North Korea just announced they were changing their time 
>> zone this week.  I doubt OS-9 is used much in either country, though.  It 
>> still leads to an interesting political/legal view on which time zones 
>> you want to support.
>>
>> Katmandu also has a 15 minute offset.
>>
>> Sounds like a fun, challenging project that would make the implementor(s) 
>> think about the world more than the code/feature being implemented.
>>
>> If you want a different perspective, read the last chapters of this book: 
>> http://www.amazon.com/Dreaming-Code-Programmers-Transcendent-Software/dp/1400082471/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1439134365&sr=8-1&keywords=dreaming+in+code 
>> Essentially, time zones are what killed that project.
>>
>> Good feature request!
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Coco [mailto:coco-bounces at maltedmedia.com] On Behalf Of George 
>> Ramsower
>> Sent: Saturday, August 8, 2015 11:45 PM
>> To: coco at maltedmedia.com
>> Subject: Re: [Coco] NitrOS-9/OS-9 feature suggestion
>>
>> On 8/9/2015 12:33 AM, K. Pruitt wrote:
>>> So New Zealand is +12:45 minutes off of GMT.
>>>
>>> Couldn't be off on the hour, or even the half hour. Had to be off on
>>> the three quarters of the hour mark.
>>>
>>> Way to make things difficult, New Zealand.
>>>
>>> How does Linux store basic time zone info and also does Linux now
>>> store location info (lat and long coordinates)?
>>>
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "K. Pruitt"
>>> Sent: Saturday, August 08, 2015 9:43 PM
>>> Subject: [Coco] NitrOS-9/OS-9 feature suggestion
>>>
>>>
>>>> I think a flag somewhere in the system would be useful to indicate
>>>> the CoCo's time-zone.
>>>>
>>>> This could be very useful for a lot of time-based utilities.
>>>>
>>>> Perhaps the offset from GMT along with the status of DST stored in a
>>>> file in the SYS directory?
>>>>
>>>> It would have to be a standard to be truly useful.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>    I was looking into this very subject a few days ago. There are several 
>> locations of odd time zones.
>>    Do a Google for "world time zones" and you will find many with odd 
>> time offsets.
>>
>> George R.
>>
>>
>> --