[LEAPSECS] alternative to smearing

[John Sauter]

On Wed, 2017-01-04 at 09:42 -0500, Michael Rothwell wrote:
> The Gregorian calendar doesn't mess up how computers keep track of
> time, like leap seconds do. Neither do time zones. Leap seconds are
> different -- a special kind of awful.

I don't regard leap seconds as being a special kind of awful.  The
Gregorian calendar has February, which if it had been introduced in
1972 would have been regarded as "awful" for computers because it has a
variable length.  Most computer software deals with February correctly
because it has been around longer than computers.  The same is true of
time zones.  Leap seconds, with its variable-length minutes, seems
worse only because it was introduced relatively recently.
    John Sauter (John_Sauter at systemeyescomputerstore.com)

-- 
PGP fingerprint E24A D25B E5FE 4914 A603  49EC 7030 3EA1 9A0B 511E
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 473 bytes
Desc: This is a digitally signed message part
URL: <https://pairlist6.pair.net/pipermail/leapsecs/attachments/20170104/0d141d17/attachment.pgp>