The dates are written to match how it’s said. In the US we say our dates as month day year, and before you say “But the 4th of July” my counterpoint is that the 4th of July takes place on July 4th. And Cinco de Mayo takes place on May 5th. And May the Fourth Be With You takes place on May 4th.
9point6@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
The date thing is infuriating because the American date format just shouldn’t exist
blackbelt352@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
themeatbridge@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
ISO is best. There’s no debate there. From a data science perspective, YYYY/MM/DD is the only reasonable choice.
But most of the time you’re using dates, you’re only concerned with the month and day. That’s the very reason we don’t use ISO in our daily lives. If you started every mention of a date with the year, people would think you’re a crazy person, or a time traveler, or perhaps a recently-awakened coma patient. There’s just no need to begin with the year. Next Wednesday, 2024 December 18.
If you exclude the year, then the choice is month/day or day/month. Between the two, month/day is far more useful for the same reasons ISO is best. If I need both the month and the day, then I want the month first. The only time I would want the day first is if the month doesn’t matter, and I can omit the month in that case. Giving me the day first and then the month forces me to wait for the month and then remember the day. It’s inefficient transfer of information. If you exclude the year, MM/DD is objectively, if only marginally, better than DD/MM.
But then why would anyone use MM/DD/(YY)YY? Because we’re already using MM/DD.
xmunk@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Ahem - there is a debate… it’s over
/
vs.-
. As is proper - all true debates should be over minor formatting decisions (soft tabs over my fucking dead body).SouthEndSunset@lemm.ee 3 weeks ago
I’ll see you on the 1st of the 1st.
I see nothing wrong with that. The day number moves most frequently, so that should go first. The month moves second most frequently, so that should go second. Putting the month first makes it odd.