Author’s Note: This is a short rant written in 2022 in response to an argument I had about the best method for keeping records of time. I have lightly adapted it for this format and made minor changes where appropriate.
For those in the US, you’re probably used to the MDY (Month, Day, Year) date format, along with using a 12-hour clock. This system is bad and is rife with confusion. Most other systems are even worse (I’m lookin’ at you DMY).
If we’re gonna make it to the glorious techno-future then we’re gonna need to get on the same track about dates and times… but if we’re destined for nuclear hellfire / apocalypse, then I guess this rant won’t matter.
Anyway, the only useful and correct date / time format is Year > Month > Day > Hour > Minute > Second. Big to small. Old to new.
In a computer system—or even a paper-based system—this format will sort files in perfect chronological order. Let’s take a look at an example.
You have three files that need to be sorted and three methods to do so:
1st file is from Dec. 31, 1999 2nd file is from Mar. 4, 2013 3rd file is from Aug. 11, 2019
Method 01: Day First (DMY)
This system has the files in order by the day of their respective month. The day in which something occur is almost always less important than the chronology of its occurrence in relation to other events. This system is bad.
04-03-2013.txt 11-08-2019.txt 31-12-1999.txt
Method 02: Month First (MDY)
This system has the same issue as the previous method. The month in which something occurs is helpful, but the October of one year is very different than the October twenty years hence. This system is bad.
03-04-2013.txt 08-11-2019.txt 12-31-1999.txt
Method 03: Year First (YMD)
This system solves the chronology issues of the above two methods. Dates are grouped with those that are closest together in time and go from the past, to the present, to the future.
1999-12-31.txt 2013-03-04.txt 2019-08-11.txt
2024 Update: I was well aware of the International Organization for Standardization by this point, but didn’t bother to look into their suggestions for time keeping. Turns out ISO 8601 covers the above completely and should be adopted worldwide immediately. If you’re curious, another resource you can reference is Wikipedia’s list of date formats by country.
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2022-07-14 - original article written 2024-07-25 - adapted and revised