Re: glib time functions

[Ali Abdin <aliabdin aucegypt edu>]

* Nils Barth (nils_barth post harvard edu) wrote at 02:45 on 01/12/00:
> Thus spake Ali Abdin:
> > * Robert Brady (robert suse co uk) wrote at 18:23 on 30/11/00:
> > > On Wed, 29 Nov 2000, Federico Mena Quintero wrote:
> > > 
> > > > We should do the best we can to support Islamic calendars and any
> > > > other types of calendars that are in widespread use.  This may be
> > > > technically hard, just as supporting languages with complex ligatures
> > > > is a hard thing to do (Thai et al).  But we cannot just say "screw
> > > > them"; remember that the world is not constrained to your own
> > > > particular culture.
> > > 
> > > Not just hard; impossible.
> > >
> > > We shouldn't pretend we can solve this problem; we are no magicians.
> > 
> > Umm - I said that we can not ever be 100% accurate. That doesn't mean we can't
> > be damn close. At worst the glib functions will be off by one day for a period
> > of 3 months (although I did propose a possible way to get around this which you
> > haven't responded to yet).
> 
> agreed; we can algorithmically get very close, then (optionally)
> provide some API for adjusting +/-1 day, as necessary.
> 
> > This beats "no implementation at all". Like I said, programmer and users in
> > the Middle East will go somewhere where it IS supported (i.e. Windows).
> 
> Actually, how does Windows deal with this?
> Does it use a formula so it's often off by a day?
> Does it provide an interface for adjusting +/- 1 day?

Actually - I don't know how windows handles it. I assume its some hardcoded
thing.

Windows is also very "stupid". I have Win98 with Arabic "support" (i.e. not
localized to Arabic, but you can view/run arabic stuff). You can set the date
when you click on the Time and then properties (but only in Gregorian). And the
date is /always/ displayed in Arabic (in the tooltip, in Outlook Express, etc.)

Anyway, I can boot into Windows and check what it does, but I expect it not to
do any special handling for Ramadan.

> Are any other (than emacs/windows) solutions widespread in the Middle East?

Not really. 99.9999% of people (maybe more) have never heard of emacs ;) As
far as I know the windows platform is the only Islamic calendar solution for
the middle east (and possibly proprietary implementations by consultants,
and/or "internal" implementations).

Also - Islamic calendar is not used for "everyday" work. It is mainly used for
religious holidays nowadays. Most people just use Gregorian for everyday use.

Regards,
Ali