On Mon, 23 Jun 1997 15:59:54 -0400, Vadim Svinkin <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
|><<It is intuitively obvious that to change something like the first day
|>of the week is a folly.  Needs no discussion.>>
|>
|Firstly,  it is not.

This is true, though it's pretty close IMO.

|Secondly, why can't system administrator  select the first
|day of week an have programs adjust to it?    It shouldn't
|take too much programming to set it up.

That's the ticket!  Add it to the SIGMPE ballot!  This is a STANDARD,
dag-nab-it, and MPE *needs* to be STANDARD COMPLIANT....

Of course, since we've noted that the ISO standard differs from common
usage, at least in some areas, and since the ISO standard differs from
present implementation on MPE, it will need to be switchable by the system
administrator between the two modes.  That makes it seem that a setting in
SYSGEN would be ideal.  However, someone will say that they want to be able
to change it without a reboot, so perhaps it should be defined by a file,
perhaps called WEEKDAYS.PUB.SYS or whatever the engineer implementing it
decides, unless of course there is a STANDARD for that too.  Then again,
perhaps some systems will have more than one application or users from
varied locations or cultures where different STANDARDS will apply depending
on application configuration details.  In that case, a user-modifiable
system variable or the ability to redirect (using file equations) references
to WEEKDAYS.PUB.SYS to a customized mode.  And while we're in there anyway,
how about letting the WEEKDAYS file (or the system variable if defined)
specify not only what day of the week the week begins on, but also what the
weekday names are for that user.  Hmmm.... Perhaps we could broaden this
into a CALENDAR.PUB.SYS file which defines all things that are needed to
implement a calendar with whatever day and month names and beginnings, and
lengths and even number of months, days, (or whatever they are called in
each location) in the specific calendar used by the culture being addressed.
In fact, if this is done with sufficient flexibility, HP could propose this
functionality as a *new* STANDARD to one or more of the various standards
bodies around the world.  Surely, *one* of them (at least) would be
interested.


P.S.  If you made it this far, I hope you long ago realized that the
      preceeding two paragraphs were written with my proverbial tongue
      lodged firmly (and perhaps permanently) in my proverbial cheek.
      As always, #insert DISCLAIM.STANDARD.!HPACCT
--
Jeff Woods
[log in to unmask] at Unison Software
[log in to unmask]   at home  [PGP key available here via finger]

"When a place gets crowded enough to require IDs, social collapse is not
 far away.  It is time to go elsewhere.  The best thing about space travel
 is that it made it possible to go elsewhere."
      --  Lazarus Long in "Time Enough for Love"
          by Robert Anson Heinlein (1907-1988)

P.P.S. And perhaps substituting "standards regarding the first day of the
       week" for "IDs" in the above quote isn't such a bad idea either.  ;)

For what it was worth,
Jeff