Re: Islamic implementation query

["Dirk-Jan C. Binnema" <bulkmail dds nl>]

Hi Ali,

Op Sat Dec 02, 2000 at 02:28:36PM -0200 schreef Ali Abdin:
-> * Dirk-Jan C. Binnema (bulkmail dds nl) wrote at 14:06 on 02/12/00:

-> > I doubt whether glib is a suitable place for the Islamic calendar
-> > stuff. IMHO, it's far too non-general. I think you (or someone else)
-> > even said the calendar isn't used so much in daily life, but is
-> > mainly for religious purposes. This is not to say that some library to
-> > calculate Islamic dates isn't useful to some people - it's just that I
-> > don't think it belongs in glib, just like function for calculating
-> > Eastern dates, the times of (sun|moon|...)rise and set etc. shouldn't
-> > be in. So why don't you make a separate library? 
->
-> Because I think the place for it is in glib. glib already has general purpose
-> functions for Gregorian/Julian date manipulations. It makes sense for it to
-> have the same support for other calendars that are already in-use out there.

<snip>

-> I think it is reasonable to have date manipulation functions for Gregorian,
-> Julian, ISO, Hebrew, Islamic. These are the only "mainstream" date stuff used
-> today. I would agree that implementing something like an old Mayan calendar
-> would be "far too non-general".
-> 
-> And please note, just because you don't find it useful, it does not mean
-> others out there will not find it useful. If you don't find it useful you can
-> just ignore it.
-> 
-> Regards,
-> Ali

I'm sure the Islamic date functions are important to some people; but
there are many function important to some people, and still these
aren't (and shouldn't be) in Glib. For example (as I said before), 
functions for the calculation of the Eastern date are in a similar
position. 

Glib is a library for general-purpose C-functions. As you've said
yourself, the Islamic date system is not even the system people use
normally. I hope you agree that it's important to be very discriminate
about what goes in and what is not, and the gregorian stuff *is* general
purpose, while Islamic dates are not, IMHO.

I don't want to discourage your efforts to make a nice free software
implementation of these function; please do so. You could even add
stuff like the Easterndate -- make a nice libreldate or something. I'm
sure that programs that would use these functions wouldn't mind the
extra dependency, and it could even be optional. One could also argue
that it would be better for these functions to be in a separate
library, so non-gtk/gnome applications are more likely to use them.

Furthermore, I'm not really familiar with Islamic customs, but I find
it hard to believe that the 99.9999% would care if the Islamic date
function were in a separate library.

Anyway, I'm no Glib maintainer, just a Glib user, so it's not my
call. But again, I do agree that these functions can be a valuable
addition to the pool of free software - I just think it shouldn't be
in Glib.

Best wishes,
	Dirk-Jan.