24:00 pm
I’ve about finished watching 24 season one (it’s not really my cup of tea - bit mainstream, but it is well done), however one thing that really bugs me is their clock - it’s nearly 11 o’clock at night in the bit I’m up to and yet the clock says 10:59:59. Earlier it was even worse - 09:34:23 when it’s 9pm at night - that’s 21:34:23.
The rules aren’t complex - 24 hour clocks have leading zeros and go from 00:00:00 to 23:59:59. It’s intended to be unambiguous - and it is when people stick the rules.
The fact that my cooker goes 23:59, 24:00, 00:01 just means that there is a bug - at best a fencepost error, at worst someone actually wrote extra code to get it wrong.
Posted: March 15th, 2008 under Life Rants.
Comments: 2
Comments
Comment from Adam Bower
Time: Saturday 15 March, 2008, 19:47
Hmmmn, I was thinking this very same thing earlier today. My car insurance expires at 24:00 on the 17th. Now I thought this meant beginning of the day and that this was a bug, but after reading up on it 24:00 just means “end of the day” and is quite common in usage (apparently), totally wrong on a cooker mind you or a time keeping device but perfectly viable when written (even though I think it is wrong). Although the reason it is supposed to exist is to make things clear and to not be ambiguous which is totally crackful as in my opinion it just confuses the matter more as it is obviously a made up time rather than an actual one!
Comment from adrian
Time: Sunday 16 March, 2008, 07:04
Interesting- I suppose it is clearer that way - better than saying 23:59:59.9999 without including 00:00 itself.
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