[AccessD] Number vs text data type

Stuart McLachlan stuart at lexacorp.com.pg
Sat Oct 18 19:07:54 CDT 2003


On 18 Oct 2003 at 17:33, Henry Simpson wrote:

> Christian:
> 
> If one were using an fluctuating base 365/366 number system, that would be 
> close, but that is unnecessarily complicated.  The integer portion is 
> usually a count of days before or after the date:
> 
> ?format(cdate(0), "dd mm yyyy")
> 30 12 1899
> 
Since Dates are really just doubles,  you don't really even need  the 
CDate() here, just Format(0,"dd mm yyyy").  

> which is December 30, 1899.  Negative numbers are days prior to that day.
> 
> If you replace the 0 with a 2, you get January 1, 1900 and if you use 367, 
> you get the first day of the 20th century, January 1, 1901.  There's 
> Microsoft logic shining as it often does.
> 
That strikes me quite often when I'm doing date manipulation.  I've 
tried to see the reasoning behind that start date. So far, I can't 
see it at all. Can anyone come with  *any* logical reason?

Especially when you consider that Excel uses a more logical scheme 
where Day 1 is "1 Jan 1900"

Still in some ways Access is better than Excel which returns "O Jan 
1900" for Day 0 and an error for negative numbers :-)

 
-- 
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http://www.lexacorp.com.pg
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