Re: A small idea to simplify (further) time input in the date/time prompt

[Robert Horn <rjhorn@panix.com>]

Eric S Fraga writes:

> On Thursday, 21 May 2020 at 09:29, Gustavo Barros wrote:
>> So I'd like to suggest a simplification there, which is: a string in
>> the format "hour h minute" (that's small caps letter "H"), but in
>
> I would be strongly in favour of having this option.  This is how I
> write times in email messages, for instance, so would be more consistent
> for me.  And especially when I communicate with my European partners
> when referring to times after 12 noon.
>

I would be opposed.  There are already dozens of different formats used
in different situations and locations for writing the time.  This would
be yet another different time format.  It is relatively unique in that
there is no other place in the world that uses it.  I don't think that
uniqueness is an argument in its favor.

There some other formats that are actually in widespread use worldwide
that I would prefer as available alternatives:

European dot notation.  Many people use the dot rather than the colon,
so 13:05 is written as 13.05.  I think this is mostly a keyboard, pen, and
pencil thing.  Colon is harder to write.  It's inconveniently located on
many keyboards.  The problem with dot notation is potential confusion
for more detailed time.  "15:53:00.322348" is easy to guess and
understand.  "15.53.00.322348" is more confusing.

Military time, which is used in most militaries, aviation, etc.

  hhmmZ - Time in UTC on a 24-hr clock, also called "Zulu time".  The
  ISO 8601 time "11:21:00 -0400" would be 1521Z.  This is almost
  mandatory when dealing with multi-location scheduling so that everyone
  uses the same time base.
  
  hhmmJ or hhmmh - Time in local zone on a 24-hr clock.  It's widely
  used in military organizations for times that do not need
  multi-location scheduling.  The time "1121J" or "1121h" is usually
  spoken in English as "eleven twenty one hours".  These times are also
  lack the colon typing problem.  

I've not pushed for these mostly because convenience typing military
time isn't worth figuring out all the changes that would be needed.

It's worth looking at all the issues discussed in ISO 8601 and
understanding them before you leap into time formatting changes.  ISO
8601 is a compromise solution with lots of warts, but it is widely
supported and understood.

-- 
Robert Horn
rjhorn@alum.mit.edu