Re: Call for Votes: PEAR::Calendar

"David Grant" <all@davidjonathangrant.info> wrote in message news:62230.212.135.181.115.1066993437.squirrel@www.easilymail.co.uk... > Kouber Saparev said: > > Something I've found a propos de leap years: > > > > "The leap year was introduced in the Julian calendar in 46 BC. However, > > around 10 BC, it was found that the priests in charge of computing the > > calendar had been adding leap years every three years instead of the four > > decreed by Caesar. As a result of this error, no more leap years were > > added > > until 8 AD. Leap years were therefore 45 BC, 42 BC, 39 BC, 36 BC, 33 BC, > > 30 > > BC, 27 BC, 24 BC, 21 BC, 18 BC, 15 BC, 12 BC, 9 BC, 8 AD, 12 AD, and every > > fourth year thereafter, until the Gregorian calendar was introduced > > (resulting in skipping three out of every four centuries). The UNIX > > command > > cal incorrectly lists 4 AD as a leap year." > > This sounds more like a historical fact. 4 AD wasn't a leap year, but > should've been if those naughty priests hadn't been ignoring Caesar. > > I think the Calendar ought to act as an accurate representation of time > rather than a historical reference. Thus, if someone asks what the first > day of 10BC was, they'd get the correct answer back *relative* to the > Gregorian calendar, but *not* the day of the week that the New Year was > actually celebrated on. I absolutely agree on that...everything else is too relative to the epoch, and to the different countries, that switched to the Gregorian calendar in different centuries. If someone wants the day of some event in the distant pass, he should make these calculations for himself. > Cheers, > > -D.