2009/10/2 Tom Jenkins <[log in to unmask]>
> Just wondering if anyone knew if there was an accepted standard way of
> storing BC dates in collection databases so they're searchable online.
> Putting negative dates seems the most obvious to me, but perhaps this is
> frowned upon... I know the British Museum have BC objects online; anyone
> there or anywhere else care to share their thoughts?
>
No idea. Most database 'date' types seem to have a limited range, eg in
MySQL it's '1000-01-01' to '9999-12-31' (and yes, I had to look that up).
So I guess you'd probably have to store it either as a text string, or as
three separate integers (representing year, month, day), and write your own
comparison and search functions.
I'm mainly replying as an excuse to link to
http://www.quirksmode.org/blog/archives/2009/04/making_time_saf.html though,
which is a fascinating article on the different types of historical
calendars, the certainty of different types of dates, and whether years are
even "names" rather than numbers.
The conclusion I drew from it was that it's probably best to assume that
anything before BC 300 didn't happen. :)
Frankie
--
Frankie Roberto
Experience Designer, Rattle
0114 2706977
http://www.rattlecentral.com
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