[conspire] Time zones and coders

[Michael Paoli]

> From: "Rick Moen" <rick at linuxmafia.com>
> Subject: [conspire] Time zones and coders
> Date: Wed, 13 Mar 2019 12:37:43 -0700

> ----- Forwarded message from Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com> -----
>
> Date: Wed, 13 Mar 2019 12:33:28 -0700
> From: Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com>
> To: devuan-dev at lists.dyne.org
> Subject: Re: [devuan-dev] Devuan meet Mar. 13, 2019 @20:30 UTC
>
> Meant to add:
>
>> (My wife Deirdre the family coder says that time zones are a conspiracy
>> to drive programmers insane.)
>
> If you're at all of a similar mindset, this will be golden:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5wpm-gesOY

Whee!  And ... California ... ain't we special, ... with
the passage of Proposition 7
https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/prior-elections/statewide-election-results/general-election-november-6-2018/statement-vote/
California could end up with its very own timezone (and timezone files),
distinct from anywhere else on the planet.  <sigh>
But hey, it could be worse.  For some country(/ies?) on the planet,
changes in time(zone) information would be announced/finalized as
little as less than 2 weeks in advance of the change taking effect.

I think we ought go UTC planet-wide.
"Of course", with proposition 7, if/when it gets implemented,
after some period of time, (nearly) everyone will find that things
happen just too early, so, over time, most everyone will - with the
clocks having been legally set - just adjust schedules - schools will
start later, work will start later, lunches and tea time will start later,
dinners will start later, ... will for the most part effectively
nullify most of the effects of the change to "permanent"* Daylight
Saving Time.
*permanent - until the legislature or populace change their minds, or
other such changes occur.

Oh, and there have been some really *stupid* suggestions/proposals
having to do with leap seconds too.  <sigh>  Don't even get me started.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it (leap seconds aren't and the related
standards aren't broken, ... some code dealing with it is - fix the dang
code - it's not like leap seconds are some new phenomena or something -
they've been around many decades now - long before Y2K even).

And programmers need to stop reinventing the wheel poorly - there are
generally good/excellent libraries and such, and standard/proper
ways of dealing with time and the related, ... so, use 'em.  :-)
And standard regression testing of such ought be done for (most?)
all programs - notably time & related testing for any programs that
utilize or deal with time (e.g. timezones, Daylight/Summer changes,
leap seconds, etc.).  Testing is good!  :-)  (Yes, ... Y2K - I found
Y2K bugs in major vendor's major operating system even after it was
fully patched and supposedly free of Y2K bugs ... not quite - I found
more ... that was 1998 - we were testing well ahead of time, and
very thoroughly ... also found a lot of non-Y2K bugs along the
way ... yes, testing is good).