So, anyone got an imitation Multics 'memo' command?

[Carl Witty]

In <1991May30.103104.24322 at gdr.bath.ac.uk> exspes at gdr.bath.ac.uk (P E Smee) writes:
>In article <45901 at cos.com> fetter at cos.UUCP (Bob Fetter) writes:
>>  Actually, a Unix implementation of convert_date_to_binary_ would IMHO
>>be the most useful product of this type of effort.  I would have to
>>think, though, that someone, somewhere, has done this already.
>>
>>  The usefulness of dealing with date/time strings like
>>
>>	next friday at noon
>>	two weeks after easter
>>	tomorrow at 9pm
>>
>>would be nice.  An "extention" to the Multics notation, though, would
>>be negative times -- such as "last Thursday".  I don't think (remember)
>>the Multics routines handling negative offsets.  Did it?

The date parser included with the Andrew Message System, in
.../ams/libs/ms/prsdate.y, handles all of the above dates (including
"last Thursday"), except that it doesn't know about Easter--I tried
"two weeks after christmas" instead.

>Yep.  In later incarnations it also knew about 'before' and 'after', so
>(to pick an example from the manual)

>   Tuesday after Monday on or after 11/1

The parser in prsdate.y won't handle this (it doesn't know about "on
or after"), but it does handle the equivalent "tuesday after monday
after 10/31".  If it annoys you to have to remember that October has
31 days, you could also use "tuesday after monday after day before
11/1".

>is Election Day in the US -- i.e. the Tuesday after the first Monday
>in November.  The baroque

>   Tuesday after Monday on or after 11/1 -1 week

That doesn't work.

>would be the Tuesday before that, as would

>   Tuesday before Monday on or after 11/1

That does.  (Except that "on or after" doesn't work.)  So does "one
week before tuesday after monday after day before 11/1".

>'Easter -2 days' is Good Friday.

>-- 
>Paul Smee, Computing Service, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1UD, UK
> P.Smee at bristol.ac.uk - ..!uunet!ukc!bsmail!p.smee - Tel +44 272 303132