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Daylight saving creator left the chat.... (lemmy.world)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/programmer_humor@programming.dev
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[–] -2 points 2 years ago (1 child)

We already have that for technology to use - the unix timestamp.

A unix timestamp is an offset to a UTC date, not a timezone. But fair enough, there is UTC. It's not used by default however, except by scientists and programmers maybe.

Maybe I’m missing something. What do you think the benefits would be?

Removing ambiguity from casual language. Currently when you state a time you are almost always implying your local timezone applies, which might be unknown information to the recipient, especially with written sources like these comments here. With everybody using the same timezone instead you would always make an unambiguous statement about the specific time by default.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Currently when you state a time you are almost always implying your local timezone applies, which might be unknown information to the recipient, especially with written sources like these comments here.

    In most people's everyday life that's really rare. And when it does happen it's usually clarified. In more automated contexts (e.g. a scheduled YouTube premiere) the software converts it automatically - the author inputs the date and time in their own timezone, and viewer sees the converted date and time in their own timezone.

    When it does happen it reminds us that the date and time falls on a different time of day for different participants.

    With everybody using the same timezone instead you would always make an unambiguous statement about the specific time by default.

    22:00, midday.

    Person A: "Meet me here tomorrow at 01:00"

    Person B: "Sure no problem"

    ... three hours later ...

    Person A: "Ugh, I told him to be here at 01:00, where is he?"

    ... 24 hours later ...

    Person B: "Ugh, he told me to come here at 01:00, where is he?"

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

    And when it does happen it’s usually clarified. In more automated contexts (e.g. a scheduled YouTube premiere) the software converts it automatically - the author inputs the date and time in their own timezone, and viewer sees the converted date and time in their own timezone.

    My point exactly though, this is a whole lot of complexity we could just get rid of by using a single timezone, with the added benefit of that working without any automation or clarification. Next Tuesday 14:00? Same time for everybody, regardless of locality. Everyone will know what part of the solar day that is for them by habit.

    When it does happen it reminds us that the date and time falls on a different time of day for different participants.

    The complexity of coordinating different solar cycles is there either way and unavoidable. So why not use the simpler system?

    Meet me here tomorrow at 01:00

    Yes, semantic drift in these terms would be unavoidable, but I still see the long-term benefits to clarity outweighing the short-term costs in it.

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