oracular (3) Date::Convert.3pm.gz
NAME
Date::Convert - Convert Between any two Calendrical Formats
SYNOPSIS
use Date::Convert;
$date=new Date::Convert::Gregorian(1997, 11, 27);
@date=$date->date;
convert Date::Convert::Hebrew $date;
print $date->date_string, "\n";
Currently defined subclasses:
Date::Convert::Absolute
Date::Convert::Gregorian
Date::Convert::Hebrew
Date::Convert::Julian
Date::Convert is intended to allow you to convert back and forth between any arbitrary date formats (ie.
pick any from: Gregorian, Julian, Hebrew, Absolute, and any others that get added on). It does this by
having a separate subclass for each format, and requiring each class to provide standardized methods for
converting to and from the date format of the base class. In this way, instead of having to code a
conversion routine for going between and two arbitrary formats foo and bar, the function only needs to
convert foo to the base class and the base class to bar. Ie:
Gregorian <--> Base class <--> Hebrew
The base class includes a Convert method to do this transparently.
Nothing is exported because it wouldn't make any sense to export. :)
DESCRIPTION
Function can be split into several categories:
• Universal functions available for all subclasses (ie. all formats). The fundamental conversion
routines fit this category.
• Functions that are useful but don't necessarily make sense for all subclasses. The overwhelming
majority of functions fall into this category. Even such seemingly universal concepts as year, for
instance, don't apply to all date formats.
• Private functions that are required of all subclasses, ie. initialize. These should not be called by
users.
Here's the breakdown by category:
Functions Defined for all Subclasses
new Create a new object in the specified format with the specified start parameters, ie. "$date = new
Date::Convert::Gregorian(1974, 11, 27)". The start parameters vary with the subclass. My personal
preference is to order in decreasing order of generality (ie. year first, then month, then day, or
year then week, etc.)
This can have a default date, which should probably be "today".
date
Extract the date in a format appropriate for the subclass. Preferably this should match the format
used with new, so
(new date::Convert::SomeClass(@a))->date;
should be an identity function on @a if @a was in a legitmate format.
date_string
Return the date in a pretty format.
convert
Change the date to a new format.
Non-universal functions
year
Return just the year element of date.
month
Just like year.
day Just like year and month.
is_leap
Boolean. Note that (for ::Hebrew and ::Gregorian, at least!) this can be also be used as a static.
That is, you can either say $date->is_leap or is_leap Date::Convert::Hebrew 5757
Private functions that are required of all subclasses
You shouldn't call these, but if you want to add a class, you'll need to write them! Or it, since at the
moment, there's only one.
initialize
Read in args and initialize object based on their values. If there are no args, initialize with the
base class's initialize (which will initialize in the default way described above for new.) Note the
American spelling of "initialize": "z", not "s".
SUBCLASS SPECIFIC NOTES
Absolute
The "Absolute" calendar is just the number of days from a certain reference point. Calendar people
should recognize it as the "Julian Day Number" with one minor modification: When you convert a Gregorian
day n to absolute, you get the JDN of the Gregorian day from noon on.
Since "absolute" has no notion of years it is an extremely easy calendar for conversion purposes. I
stole the "absolute" calendar format from Reingold's emacs calendar mode, for debugging purposes.
The subclass is little more than the base class, and as the lowest common denominator, doesn't have any
special functions.
Gregorian
The Gregorian calendar is a purely solar calendar, with a month that is only an approximation of a lunar
month. It is based on the old Julian (Roman) calendar. This is the calendar that has been used by most
of the Western world for the last few centuries. The time of its adoption varies from country to
country. This ::Gregorian allows you to extrapolate back to 1 A.D., as per the prorgamming tradition,
even though the calendar definitely was not in use then.
In addition to the required methods, Gregorian also has year, month, day, and is_leap methods. As
mentioned above, is_leap can also be used statically.
Hebrew
This is the traditional Jewish calendar. It's based on the solar year, on the lunar month, and on a
number of additional rules created by Rabbis to make life tough on people who calculate calendars. :)
If you actually wade through the source, you should note that the seventh month really does come before
the first month, that's not a bug.
It comes with the following additional methods: year, month, day, is_leap, rosh, part_add, and part_mult.
rosh returns the absolute day corresponding to "Rosh HaShana" (New year) for a given year, and can also
be invoked as a static. part_add and part_mult are useful functions for Hebrew calendrical calculations
are not for much else; if you're not familiar with the Hebrew calendar, don't worry about them.
Islamic
The traditional Muslim calendar, a purely lunar calendar with a year that is a rough approximation of a
solar year. Currently unimplemented.
Julian
The old Roman calendar, allegedly named for Julius Caesar. Purely solar, with a month that is a rough
approximation of the lunar month. Used extensively in the Western world up to a few centuries ago, then
the West gradually switched over to the more accurate Gregorian. Now used only by the Eastern Orthodox
Church, AFAIK.
ADDING NEW SUBCLASSES
This section describes how to extend Date::Convert to add your favorite date formats. If you're not
interested, feel free to skip it. :)
There are only three function you have to write to add a new subclass: you need initialize, date, and
date_string. Of course, helper functions would probably help. . . You do not need to write a new or
convert function, since the base class handles them nicely.
First, a quick conceptual overhaul: the base class uses an "absolute day format" (basically "Julian day
format") borrowed from emacs. This is just days numbered absolutely from an extremely long time ago.
It's really easy to use, particularly if you have emacs and emacs' calendar mode. Each Date::Convert
object is a reference to a hash (as in all OO perl) and includes a special "absol" value stored under a
reserved "absol" key. When initialize initializes an object, say a Gregorian date, it stores whatever
data it was given in the object and it also calculates the "absol" equivalent of the date and stores it,
too. If the user converts to another date, the object is wiped clean of all data except "absol". Then
when the date method for the new format is called, it calculates the date in the new format from the
"absol" data.
Now that I've thoroughly confused you, here's a more compartmentalized version:
initialize
Take the date supplied as argument as appropriate to the format, and convert it to "absol" format.
Store it as $$self{'absol'}. You might also want to store other data, ie. ::Gregorian stores
$$self{'year'}, $$self{'month'}, and $$self{'day'}. If no args are supplied, explicitly call the
base class's initialize, ie. "Date::Convert::initialize", to initialize with a default 'absol' date
and nothing else.
NOTE: I may move the default behavior into the new constructor.
date
Return the date in a appropriate format. Note that the only fact that date can take as given is that
$$self{'absol'} is defined, ie. this object may not have been initialized by the initialize of this
object's class. For instance, you might have it check if $$self{'year'} is defined. If it is, then
you have the year component, otherwise, you calculate year from $$self{'absol'}.
date_string
This is the easy part. Just call date, then return a pretty string based on the values.
NOTE: The ::Absolute subclass is a special case, since it's nearly an empty subclass (ie. it's just the
base class with the required methods filled out). Don't use it as an example! The easiest code to
follow would have been ::Julian except that Julian inherits from ::Gregorian. Maybe I'll reverse that. .
.
EXAMPLES
#!/usr/local/bin/perl5 -w
use Date::Convert;
$date=new Date::Convert::Gregorian(1974, 11, 27);
convert Date::Convert::Hebrew $date;
print $date->date_string, "\n";
My Gregorian birthday is 27 Nov 1974. The above prints my Hebrew birthday.
convert Date::Convert::Gregorian $date;
print $date->date_string, "\n";
And that converts it back and prints it in Gregorian.
$guy = new Date::Convert::Hebrew (5756, 7, 8);
print $guy->date_string, " -> ";
convert Date::Convert::Gregorian $guy;
print $guy->date_string, "\n";
Another day, done in reverse.
@a=(5730, 3, 2);
@b=(new Date::Convert::Hebrew @a)->date;
print "@a\n@b\n";
The above should be an identity for any list @a that represents a legitimate date.
#!/usr/local/bin/perl -an
use Date::Convert;
$date = new Date::Convert::Gregorian @F;
convert Date::Convert::Hebrew $date;
print $date->date_string, "\n";
And that's a quick Greg -> Hebrew conversion program, for those times when people ask.
SEE ALSO
perl(1), Date::DateCalc(3)
VERSION
Date::Convert 0.15 (pre-alpha)
AUTHOR
Mordechai T. Abzug <morty@umbc.edu>
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND FURTHER READING
The basic idea of using astronomical dates as an intermediary between all calculations comes from
Dershowitz and Reingold. Reingold's code is the basis of emacs's calendar mode. Two papers describing
their work (which I used to own, but lost! Darn.) are:
``Calendrical Calculations'' by Nachum Dershowitz and Edward M. Reingold, Software--Practice and
Experience, Volume 20, Number 9 (September, 1990), pages 899-928. ``Calendrical Calculations, Part II:
Three Historical Calendars'' by E. M. Reingold, N. Dershowitz, and S. M. Clamen, Software--Practice and
Experience, Volume 23, Number 4 (April, 1993), pages 383-404.
They were also scheduled to come out with a book on calendrical calculations in Dec. 1996, but as of
March 1997, it still isn't out yet.
The Hebrew calendrical calculations are largely based on a cute little English book called The Hebrew
Calendar (I think. . .) in a box somewhere at my parents' house. (I'm organized, see!) I'll have to
dig around next time I'm there to find it. If you want to access the original Hebrew sources, let me
give you some advice: Hilchos Kiddush HaChodesh in the Mishneh Torah is not the Rambam's most readable
treatment of the subject. He later wrote a little pamphlet called "MaAmar HaEibur" which is both more
complete and easier to comprehend. It's included in "Mich't'vei HaRambam" (or some such; I've got to
visit that house), which was reprinted just a few years ago.
Steffen Beyer's Date::DateCalc showed me how to use MakeMaker and write POD documentation. Of course,
any error is my fault, not his!
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 1997 by Mordechai T. Abzug
LICENSE STUFF
You can distribute, modify, and otherwise mangle Date::Convert under the same terms as perl.