81–90 of 175 posts
I sometimes wonder how many bugs are lurking in systems using GPS for navigation at 180th meridian (where longitude goes from 180 to -180).
IIRC there was a bug in an early version of a certain fighter jet where it would go inverted when crossing the equator. Oops.
https://www.ar15.com/forums/general/Urban_legend_about_F16__...?
'Falsehoods programmers believe about time: - Every day has a sunrise and a sunset'
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Falsehood #2: Every day starts at 12:00 am midnight.
Because there is neither a 12:00 am, nor a 12:00 pm. One is 12 noon, the other is 12 midnight. AM and PM are "ante meridian" and "post meridian": before" and after . But 12 is on* the meridian; neither one. You can meaningfully say 12:00:01 am, or 11:59:59 pm, but for 12 sharp nobody can say whether am or pm is dark or day. Airlines schedule flights at 12:01 for this reason.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yep. And there also small regions that observe daylights savings WITHIN regions that don’t observe daylight savings WITHIn regions that do observe it. For example, in Indiana it is on a per county basis[1]. 1. https://www.timeanddate.com/time/us/indiana-time.html
Speaking of within, I fibbed slightly about Arizona. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_in_Arizona The Navajo Nation is within Arizona's boundaries, and it does observe DST. And the Hopi Reservation is within the Navajo Nation, and it does not observe DST. And since Arizona is surrounded by California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, and Mexico, all of which do observe DST, that means you have an island of no-DST (Hopi) in…
'Falsehoods programmers believe about time: - Every day has a sunrise and a sunset'
Right? I am reliably put into this weird emotional state of being simultaneously entertained and chagrined at the propensity for technologists (and I very much include myself in this criticism) to make these kinds of assumptions, and the edge-case bugs that fall out of them.
Has anyone ever determined how many times you have to drive around Infinite Loop before Apple Security calls the police on you?
I wonder if Apple shares that code in iOS too?
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I think you're right, but that the tone I read in your words would prevent people from improving. Rather than "I'm so clever" it is more "this isn't complicated". One can argue they mean the same thing, but I'd say they mean different things if comparing to an outside scale. The solution to thinking you're so clever is to reduce your arrogance, but the solution to thinking problems are simple is to stop assuming any…
My favorite incorrect fact is that there are 24 timezones. In fact, the number of offsets from UTC fluctuates throughout the year (at least last I worked on scheduling in 2012. Back then it was either 39 or 40 depending on DST)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Falsehood #2: Every day starts at 12:00 am midnight.
Because there is neither a 12:00 am, nor a 12:00 pm. One is 12 noon, the other is 12 midnight. AM and PM are "ante meridian" and "post meridian": before" and after . But 12 is on* the meridian; neither one. You can meaningfully say 12:00:01 am, or 11:59:59 pm, but for 12 sharp nobody can say whether am or pm is dark or day. Airlines schedule flights at 12:01 for this reason.
I’m no domain expert but I’m guessing flights are scheduled at 12:01am because people are bad at time. For instance some people would think 12am is the last minute of the previous day instead of the first minute of the next day. 12:01 removes the potential ambiguity.