[uf-dev] Human and machine readable data format

[Dan Brickley]

Glenn Jones wrote:
> On 29 Jun 2008, Norm wrote:
>> That is an internationalisation no-no. It's not longer "human  
>> readable" if the language is question demands a different order and  
>> you break it for the sake of easier machine parsing.
> 
> That's only an example for English. At the bottom of the page
> 
> http://ufxtract.com/experimental/hm-readable-date.htm
> 
> you will find a language descriptions which will be need to configure
> parser's. There is a pattern property which allow for different orders.
> The Simplified Chinese data format has a different order to the others. 
> 
> The idea is that the parsers read the lang attribute on the abbr and
> applies the correct language description. It will be a pain to build up
> all the international descriptions needed, but it's the only way if we
> wish to have human readable date's that can be parsed by machines.

That's a very interesting approach. But do you think this can reasonably 
extend to use of other calendars, rather than just other scripts / 
natural languages?

cheers,

Dan

--
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