Thread: to_date 'J' format misunderstanding

to_date 'J' format misunderstanding

From
Alex Ignatov
Date:
In Table 9-22. Template Patterns for Date/Time Formatting we have

'J    Julian Day (days since November 24, 4714 BC at midnight)'

But there is no any information about what calender use for date of
November 24, 4714 BC. From wikipedia we know that it is
November 24, 4714 BC, in the proleptic Gregorian calendar.
I think information about Gregorian calendar must include in
documentation for misunderstaning exclusion

PS. In oracle docs we have following info about formatting:

' J Yes Julian day; the number of days since January 1, 4712 BC. Number
specified with J must be integers.'

again no any information about what calendar is using for  date January
1, 4712 BC  %)

--
Alex Ignatov
Postgres Professional: http://www.postgrespro.com
The Russian Postgres Company



Re: to_date 'J' format misunderstanding

From
Peter Eisentraut
Date:
On 03/09/2016 06:42 AM, Alex Ignatov wrote:
> In Table 9-22. Template Patterns for Date/Time Formatting we have
>
> 'J    Julian Day (days since November 24, 4714 BC at midnight)'
>
> But there is no any information about what calender use for date of
> November 24, 4714 BC. From wikipedia we know that it is
> November 24, 4714 BC, in the proleptic Gregorian calendar.

I don't think we need to overdocument this.  The Julian Day is defined
outside of PostgreSQL, and those who are considering using it will know
about these kinds of details.