[Remind-Fans] Issues with changing baseyr()? And partial FROM specification?

[Dianne Skoll]

On Fri, 8 Sep 2023 16:44:04 -0500
Tim Chase via Remind-fans <remind-fans at lists.skoll.ca> wrote:

> In an ideal world, baseyr() would accommodate pretty much everybody
> I know, allowing for dates back to the early 1900s (I think my late
> grandfather was the oldest at 1918).

In theory, any baseyr() after 1900 where January 1st is a Monday should
work. But in practice, I bet a bunch of assumptions that I made and
didn't think about will mean breakage.

If you want to try it, potential baseyrs up to 1990 are:

1906, 1912, 1917, 1923, 1934, 1940, 1945,
1951, 1962, 1968, 1973, 1979, 1990.

Interestingly, no year in the 1980s starts on a Monday.  Huh! :)

> As an added hope, I'd love to be able to specify a partial date
> (the year here) in the FROM and have it take the rest of it from
> the base date specification, something like

>   REM Jul 13 FROM 1976 MSG Joe's birthday [age()]
>   REM Aug 23 FROM 1972 MSG Mom & Dad [age()]

Nope, don't like it.  Won't happen. :)

I don't see how:

    REM Jul 13 FROM 1976 MSG Joe's birthday [age()]

is any better than:

    REM Jul 13 MSG Joe's birthday [age(1976)]

In fact, the latter is more concise.  You'd just define age(x) as:

    FSET age(x) ord($Ty - x)

which again, is more concise.  And I bet it'll be *way* faster than
your hacks.

Regards,

Dianne.