FamilySearch/gedcomx — Issue #130: Dates should not be composed of parts
Author: jralls
Created: 2012-02-08 06:30:54+00:00
State: open

__There are two kinds of dates:__

* _Evidence dates_ should be represented as the date string in the document and a calendar enum. Anything else is a conclusion. In many cases even the calendar enum is a conclusion, so we can debate that.

* _Conclusion dates_ should be represented as a calendar-independent number (days since some era marker). So-called Julian Period Numbers are culturally neutral and many languages include calendar libraries which deal with them. Representing the date in a calendar form is a presentation function for the user's program and not the job of GedcomX.