Durations in XQuery/XPath 2.0

Hi,

The latest XQuery/XPath 2.0 Functions and Operators WD introduces two
subtypes of xs:duration -- xf:yearMonthDuration and
xf:dayTimeDuration -- and makes it impossible to compare either durations
that don't fall into one of these two groups (such as "a year
and a day") or two durations that are of different types (such as "two
months" and "thirty days").

I'm trying to put together some examples of where durations in real
life don't fall into one of these neat categories -- either because
durations of that type tend to mix days and months and years, or
because some durations of a type might be in days and others in months
or years -- and where you might want to sort or compare those
durations for some reason. Things that I've thought of so far are:

  - recommended prison sentences for different crimes
  - the length of time for which standard contracts last

But I wondered if anyone else could think of any, or preferably have
some real examples that I could use.

Or, of course, it might be that the kinds of durations that you might
want to sort or compare do fall into these categories, which would
stop me from worrying about what I currently see as a fatally flawed
decision. So either way, let me know.

Thanks,

Jeni
---
Jeni Tennison
http://www.jenitennison.com/

Received on Thursday, 9 May 2002 14:19:32 UTC