RE: Year 0000

Hi Ashok,

     Although ISO 8601:2000 isn't entirely clear on the point, it does say 
that the year numbers are contiguous.  I take that to mean that 0000 is 
the year before 0001, and -0001 is the year before that.  That would mean 
0000 is what is usually referred to as 1 BC (or 1 BCE) and -0001 is 2 BC 
(or 2 BCE).

     If my understanding is correct, that means the years that are 
commonly called 1BC (0000) and 5BC (-0004) are leap years in the proleptic 
Gregorian calendar, but 4BC (-0003) is not.

Thanks,

Henry
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Henry Zongaro      XML Parsers development
IBM SWS Toronto Lab   Tie Line 778-6044;  Phone (416) 448-6044
mailto:zongaro@ca.ibm.com

Please respond to "Ashok Malhotra" <ashokma@microsoft.com> 
To:     Henry Zongaro/Toronto/IBM@IBMCA, <www-xml-schema-comments@w3.org>
cc:     <w3-xml-schema-wg@w3.org>, Lisa Martin/Toronto/IBM@IBMCA 
Subject:        RE: Year 0000


I found additional confirmation that the 2000 version of ISO 8601 does,
indeed, allow the year 0000.  I don't know what it maps to in terms on
AD and BC because AD 1 == 0001 and BC 1 == -0001.  Should we discuss as
a possible errata item.
Ashok 

                 -----Original Message----- 
                 From: zongaro@ca.ibm.com 
                 Sent: Thu 8/9/2001 2:02 PM 
                 To: www-xml-schema-comments@w3.org 
                 Cc: 
                 Subject: Year 0000
 
 

 
                 Hello, 
 
                      I just saw a copy of ISO 8601:2000.  I was surprised 
to
discover that it defines 0000 to be a valid year, unlike the
specification of dateTime in the "XML Schema:  Datatypes" recommendation
[1].  I gather that in ISO 8601:2000, the year 0000 is roughly
equivalent to what people usually refer to as 1BC, and is a leap year. 
 
                      Should dateTime follow ISO 8601:2000 in this 
respect?
 
                 Thanks,
 
                 Henry 
                 [1] http://www.w3.org/TR/2001/REC-xmlschema-2-20010502/#dateTime
 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 Henry Zongaro      XML Parsers development
                 IBM SWS Toronto Lab   Tie Line 778-6044;  Phone (416) 
448-6044
                 mailto:zongaro@ca.ibm.com