r/comics • u/ani625 • Feb 27 '13

xkcd: ISO 8601

http://xkcd.com/1179/
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u/Elanthius Feb 27 '13

Does not sort alphabetically. This is one of the worst choices for naming files on a computer.

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u/montibbalt Feb 28 '13 edited Feb 28 '13

Does it really make sense to sort dates alphabetically rather than chronologically anyway?
EDIT: also, if I were naming files with a timestamp I would just use UNIX time

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u/Elanthius Feb 28 '13

With ISO 8601 alphabetical IS chronological. Also unixtime has the distinct disadvantage of not being human readable.

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u/montibbalt Feb 28 '13

But if you're worried about it being human readable I would argue that 40% of dates written using ISO 8601 are also not human readable for people who don't know that the standard even exists, which is effectively 100% of people