From: Bruce Momjian <bruce@momjian.us>
To: David Harper <adh@sanger.ac.uk>
Cc: pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org
Subject: Re: Ambiguous language in Table 8.13. Special Date/Time Inputs [EXT]
Date: Tue, 9 Jul 2019 11:48:25 -0400
Message-ID: <20190709154825.egarmx2s5jyvft4e@momjian.us> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <8B4735A4-7B46-406A-B4F1-CBFA47D5E1BC@sanger.ac.uk>
References: <156258047907.1181.11324468080514061996@wrigleys.postgresql.org>
<20190709033234.ytbltfn25h5wvdbd@momjian.us>
<8B4735A4-7B46-406A-B4F1-CBFA47D5E1BC@sanger.ac.uk>
On Tue, Jul 9, 2019 at 09:14:27AM +0100, David Harper wrote:
> > Uh, I believe midnight is always the start of the day.
>
> The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) deprecates the term “midnight” as ambiguous and recommmends the use of 24-hour clock notation:
>
> ===== BEGIN QUOTE =====
> When someone refers to "midnight tonight" or "midnight last night" the reference of time is obvious. However, if a date/time is referred to as "at midnight on Friday, October 20th" the intention could be either midnight the beginning of the day or midnight at the end of the day.
>
> To avoid ambiguity, specification of an event as occurring on a particular day at 11:59 p.m. or 12:01 a.m. is a good idea, especially legal documents such as contracts and insurance policies. Another option would be to use 24-hour clock, using the designation of 0000 to refer to midnight at the beginning of a given day (or date) and 2400 to designate the end of a given day (or date).
> ===== END QUOTE =====
>
> Source:
>
> https://www.nist.gov/pml/time-and-frequency-division/times-day-faqs
>
> > I think 00:00:00 looks awkward.
>
> Perhaps, but in technical documentation, accuracy should have priority over aesthetics, surely?
>
Yes, I see what you mean now. How is this patch, which uses "zero
hour"?
--
Bruce Momjian <bruce@momjian.us> http://momjian.us
EnterpriseDB http://enterprisedb.com
+ As you are, so once was I. As I am, so you will be. +
+ Ancient Roman grave inscription +
Attachments:zero.diff (text/x-diff, 1.0K) downloaddiff --git a/doc/src/sgml/datatype.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/datatype.sgmlindex 35ecd48ed5..3b5b8a65d0 100644--- a/doc/src/sgml/datatype.sgml+++ b/doc/src/sgml/datatype.sgml@@ -2174,17 +2174,17 @@ January 8 04:05:06 1999 PST
<row>
<entry><literal>today</literal></entry>
<entry><type>date</type>, <type>timestamp</type></entry>
- <entry>midnight today</entry>+ <entry>midnight (zero hour) today</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><literal>tomorrow</literal></entry>
<entry><type>date</type>, <type>timestamp</type></entry>
- <entry>midnight tomorrow</entry>+ <entry>midnight (zero hour) tomorrow</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><literal>yesterday</literal></entry>
<entry><type>date</type>, <type>timestamp</type></entry>
- <entry>midnight yesterday</entry>+ <entry>midnight (zero hour) yesterday</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><literal>allballs</literal></entry>
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To: pgsql-docs@postgresql.org
Cc: bruce@momjian.us, adh@sanger.ac.uk, pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org
Subject: Re: Ambiguous language in Table 8.13. Special Date/Time Inputs [EXT]
In-Reply-To: <20190709154825.egarmx2s5jyvft4e@momjian.us>
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