mxDateTime history (Re: mktime, how to handle dates before 01-01-1970 ?)

[M.-A. Lemburg]

Tim Chase wrote:
>> Month arithmetic is a bit of a mess, since it's not clear how
>> to map e.g. Jan 31 + one month.
> 
> "Jan 31 + one month" usually means "add one to the month value and then
> keep backing off the day if you get an exception making the date", so
> you'd get Feb 31, exception, Feb 30, exception, Feb 29, possibly an
> exception, and possibly/finally Feb 28th.  This makes pretty intuitive
> sense to most folks and is usually what's meant.

Well, yes, but that's just one way to solve the problem. I guess
I'll just add all possible solutions and then let the user decide
what's best in some way.

> I've found that issues and confusion stem more from the non-commutative
> reality that "Jan 31 + (1 month) + (-1 month) != Jan 31 + (-1 month) +
> (1 month)" or the non-associative "Jan 31 + (1 month + 1 month) != (Jan
> 31 + 1 month) + 1 month" :-/

That's why mxDateTime actually returning a day in March...

>>> mx.DateTime.DateTime(2009, 1, 31) + mx.DateTime.RelativeDateTime(months=+1)
<mx.DateTime.DateTime object for '2009-03-03 00:00:00.00' at 2ba43f93ebe0>

That's intuitive for mathematicians only, though ;-)

> So yes, messy it is!

Indeed.

-- 
Marc-Andre Lemburg
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