Re: The Emacs Calculator and calendar

[Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>]

> You are second-guessing users' motives.  Is it so unreasonable to ask
> for an old date because one is reading a book that uses the calendar
> from those old days?

No, all it means is that for such old dates, Emacs can't know which
calendar the user meant to use unless the user says it explicitly.
So it makes a lot of sense to use a default that is simple and
consistent (i.e. always use the same calendar, namely the Gregorian) and
let the user specify which calendar she wants if she wants another one.

To the extent possible, Emacs could let the user specify the calendar
indirectly by instead specifying a "context" (a place, plus whatever
else is needed to resolve ambiguities), and then let Emacs figure out
which calendar was used at that time in that context.


        Stefan