🚀 go-pugleaf

Dash Langan wrote:
> 
> The New and Improved "Open and Shut Window Technique" is so
> simple that you will be able to send your Y2K requirements
> to India with confidence.

Why send them anywhere?  Just upgrade your Sort program; the "Big Two"
already provide support for both "fixed" and "sliding" windows.  You'd
be all set ...

... UNLESS ...

You have data whose lifespan exceeds a single century ...

E.g., using 2-digit years and the "windowing" technique of your choice,
produce a list of the holdings of the Library of Congress sorted by
cataloging date, ensuring that items cataloged in, say, 1870 appear
earlier in the list than items cataloged in, say, 1971 or later.

Land records (historical records, generally) come next to mind...

> Contrary to the erroneous impressions of some, this technique
> does not require continual maintenance after the initial
> conversion.

Nor would implementing 4-digit years...  And implementing 4-digit years
would "set you" for the next nine millenia...

But if ALL the data you EVER expect to encounter has a lifespan of less
than a century, then the "windowing" technique should be adequate; it is
certainly the simplest "fix"...

      -jc-

> 
> The url of the "Open and Shut Window Technique" is:
> http://www.geocities.com/ResearchTriangle/3462/
> 
> (Web site updated on 3/12/1997 to reflect the
> newer, improved version of the technique.)
> 
> Dash Langan