From: Lew on
Rhino wrote:
>>> As I mentioned in the original post, the year 0 never happened - the
>>> calendar went straight from the year 1 BC to 1 AD. Therefore, if someone
>>> put "0" (or "00" or "000" or "0000") in a form that asked for a year,
>>> they'd be inputting an invalid year.
>

Lew wrote:
>> The year 1 never happened either.  Neither did the year 100.  Are you
>> going to reject those years, too?
>

Arne Vajhøj wrote:
> Of course it did.
>

I agree with you. In fact, I was making the very same point you are.

I only point out that if year 0 didn't happen, then year 1 didn't
either. You can't take one and not the other. I was using "never
happened" in the same inaccurate and mistaken way that Rhino did, for
a /reductio ad absurdum/ argument.

Does nobody apply logic and rhetorical analysis any more?

Arne Vajhøj wrote:
> If you want to know what happened then look at:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/100
>

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/0_(year)>

Arne Vajhøj wrote:
> Just because the naming were invented later does
> not mean that something did not exist.
>

Exactly so.

--
Lew

From: Rhino on
>
> Please reconsider.
>
>
> "If you are sending a reply to a message or a posting be sure you
> summarize the original at the top of the message, or include just
> enough text of the original to give a context. This will make sure
> readers understand when they start to read your response. Since
> NetNews, especially, is proliferated by distributing the postings
> from one host to another, it is possible to see a response to a
> message before seeing the original. Giving context helps everyone.
> But do not include the entire original! "
>
> http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1855.html
>

I'm sold. In fact, I've been trimming my posts for years. I've only reduced
trimming recently because of the remarks I saw from someone who said
trimming made it harder for Google Groups users to follow the discussion.
Apparently, I misunderstood those remarks and it is not a problem after
all.

--
Rhino
From: Arne Vajhøj on
On 26-03-2010 15:21, Lew wrote:
> Rhino wrote:
>>>> As I mentioned in the original post, the year 0 never happened - the
>>>> calendar went straight from the year 1 BC to 1 AD. Therefore, if someone
>>>> put "0" (or "00" or "000" or "0000") in a form that asked for a year,
>>>> they'd be inputting an invalid year.
>
> Lew wrote:
>>> The year 1 never happened either. Neither did the year 100. Are you
>>> going to reject those years, too?
>
> Arne Vajh�j wrote:
>> Of course it did.
>
> I agree with you. In fact, I was making the very same point you are.

I missed that part.

> I only point out that if year 0 didn't happen, then year 1 didn't
> either. You can't take one and not the other. I was using "never
> happened" in the same inaccurate and mistaken way that Rhino did, for
> a /reductio ad absurdum/ argument.
>
> Does nobody apply logic and rhetorical analysis any more?

It is not a matter of rhetoric.

It is a matter of facts.

When applying our calendar system back in the past, then it goes
...., 2, 1, -1, -2, ... (no 0).

So year 1 exists but year 0 does not.

I assume it is related to the lack of zero in roman numbers.

But no matter why it is such, then it is how it is.

> Arne Vajh�j wrote:
>> If you want to know what happened then look at:
>>
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/100
>>
>
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/0_(year)>

Please read the text.

<quote>
"Year zero" does not exist in the widely used Gregorian calendar or in
its predecessor, the Julian calendar. Under those systems, the year 1 BC
is followed by AD 1.
</quote>

We use GregorianCalender, so:

<quote>
However, there is a year zero in astronomical year numbering (where it
coincides with the Julian year 1 BC) and in ISO 8601:2004 (where it
coincides with the Gregorian year 1 BC) as well as in all Buddhist and
Hindu calendars.
</quote>

is of little relevance.

Arne


From: Lew on
Arne Vajhøj wrote:
> Please read the text.
>
> <quote>
> "Year zero" does not exist in the widely used Gregorian calendar or in
> its predecessor, the Julian calendar. Under those systems, the year 1 BC
> is followed by AD 1.
> </quote>
>
> We use GregorianCalender, so:
>
> <quote>
> However, there is a year zero in astronomical year numbering (where it
> coincides with the Julian year 1 BC) and in ISO 8601:2004 (where it
> coincides with the Gregorian year 1 BC) as well as in all Buddhist and
> Hindu calendars.
> </quote>
>
> is of little relevance.

It's entirely relevant because the ISO 8601 version, the one that does have a
year 0, is the version implemented by java.util.Calendar.

I notice on the one hand you argue for projecting the system back to prior to
its invention, when you argue in favor of a year "one", but for not projecting
the system back when it justifies having a year "zero". That is inconsistent.

It depends on which version of the Gregorian calendar you use. Since this is
a Java discussion, I'm using the one that Java uses.

--
Lew
From: Mike Schilling on
Lew wrote:
> Arne Vajh�j wrote:
>> Please read the text.
>>
>> <quote>
>> "Year zero" does not exist in the widely used Gregorian calendar or
>> in its predecessor, the Julian calendar. Under those systems, the
>> year 1 BC is followed by AD 1.
>> </quote>
>>
>> We use GregorianCalender, so:
>>
>> <quote>
>> However, there is a year zero in astronomical year numbering (where
>> it coincides with the Julian year 1 BC) and in ISO 8601:2004 (where
>> it coincides with the Gregorian year 1 BC) as well as in all
>> Buddhist and Hindu calendars.
>> </quote>
>>
>> is of little relevance.
>
> It's entirely relevant because the ISO 8601 version, the one that
> does have a year 0, is the version implemented by java.util.Calendar.

From Wikipedia

>>> The common BC/BCE notation, for dates that are before year 0001, is not
>>> used. For instance, the year 3 BC can be denoted by ?0002.[6] (There is
>>> a difference of 1 because the BC system has no year zero.)

So, yes, ISO 8601 has a year encoded by the digits 0000, but that year is 1
BC.