[R] ISOdate() and strptime()

[Jason Turner]

Thomas Lumley wrote:

> On Fri, 14 Nov 2003, Simon Fear wrote:
> 
>>Is the behaviour of ISOtime() and strptime() determined by ISO
>>or POSIX standard? Seems not to fit R's "no nannying" policy
>>at all. 
>>
> 
> 
> It's determined by your operating system, so you're complaining to the
> wrong people.
> 

And since R is written to be portable across multiple OSs, you might get 
an idea how tricky this becomes.  Hence the "iron fist" approach to date 
handling.  Believe me, I've programmed date handling - it's always a 
terrible, nasty, messy business when international locales and different 
operating systems clash.  I'm stunned it's as good as it is, subtle 
traps and all.

Cheers

Jason