Re: [MacPerl] [ALBOT] Mac Y2K Oops?

[Richard Gordon <gordon@mindspring.com>]

On 2/7/99 at 11:24, dmcnutt@macnauchtan.com (Doug McNutt) wrote:

> What I was referring to - and didn't make clear - is that the control panel
> has a preference check box to "show century". When MPW formats a date for a
> file it honors the setting. 
> 
The problem is not how any Mac app writes dates, it's how it reads them out of
existing files that could come from anywhere. If you are responsible for
managing large database systems that are heavily reliant on regular updates from
foreign systems that involve dates and you use date driven math routines
internally that may rely on toolbox calls (which appears to be what FileMaker,
among others, does), then there is a problem that has nothing to do with input
options.

> 
> All should note that this is not about a Y2K problem. It's only a user
> interface issue. It's also not a MacPerl issue. Over and permanently out.

I couldn't disagree more. It is a data problem and it impacts MacPerl as much as
any other Mac app. More to the point, if the preferred "fix" is to untangle
existing files by scanning them and resolving ambiguous dates according to your
own arbitrary rules rather than relying on Apple's arbitrary rules before the
files are used for anything, then I would say that MacPerl would be the first
choice to use for this task as far as flat ascii files go just because of its
speed and freely distributable nature. I am interested in part because it may be
worthwhile to develop a freeware MacPerl app that would contend with text files,
then offer a shareware FaceSpan/AppleScript app to peek inside scriptable
business application files and untangle date field contents in one way or
another. Note that this is not a one shot deal, since every inbound file from
another source may contain ambiguous dates for years to come and prudence would
dictate that all be scrubbed on pretty much the same basis that Virex checks any
new downloads for viruses.

Richard Gordon
Gordon Consulting & Design
Voice: 770-565-8267  Fax: 770-971-6887



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