Time zone processing errors

[+the Seagnoid]

I have noticed that EVERY time that Groundspeak releases a new product, there are timezone errors. This is not surprising as a) handling timezones correctly is a non-trivial thing and b) hard to test - the developers in Seattle see their times coming through correctly. In fact, there is still a timezone problem outstanding - see 

There are two parts to a solutions for this. First Groundspeak needs a standard library of code for producing display dates, that show the found date for the country that the cache is in (not for the country of the cache finder!). Obviously there would be a number of these code snippets - one for SQL, one in the web language (eg java or whatever it is you use) - or maybe just the SQL one is all you need. This library obviously already exists, although maybe it has not been pulled out to a standalone function, as most of the site processes timezones correctly. But let's face it - having chosen the wrong date handling code in error is hard to pick up when the testing is in the same timezone as the development.

 

Which leads to the second part of the solution. Partner with a tester in a problem timezone. Best would be a someone in New Zealand or Australia. I am happy to offer my services as a tester (for free) - I live in New Zealand, where the time is UTC +12 or UTC+13. Alternatively I can point you to some excellent web developers who are also geocaching mad.

 

While I am not employed as a developer I have written a number of small applications and utililties, lately especially for challenge checkers for Project-GC. Not that you need anyone who knows how to code as a tester, but it help to have someone familiar with concepts, etc.

 

I hope you take up my offer.

regards,

Tom