[CF-metadata] New standard name: datetime_iso8601

From: John Caron <caron>
Date: Thu, 21 Mar 2013 09:25:51 -0600

Probably my proposal comes down to 2 parts, which are separable:

1. Find a suitable replacement for udunits as a reference library for CF
calendar dates. Unfortunately, udunits used a slightly non-standard
syntax, which we need to still be legal for backwards compatibility. So
its unlikely a standard library would work off the shelf. Someone needs
to commit to making a library that supports CF as it evolves. Other
libraries can test against it.

2. Allow a suitable string syntax for date/times, probably expressed as
a profile of ISO8601. Its a modest but worthwhile improvement IMO. The
syntax that is already used in udunits would be ok with me. However this
syntax has to be defined (it never was, unless you are yacc). In my
understanding, udunits is more or less a superset of ISO. that is, its a
bit more lenient in the syntax. However it adds a few restrictions, like
defaulting to UTC and filling non specified fields with 0. So its not
strictly a superset. The advantage of using CF process to define the
syntax ("clarify the profile of ISO8601") is that we are less likely to
miss some subtlety in syntax and meaning.

John
Received on Thu Mar 21 2013 - 09:25:51 GMT