Timestamp ISO conventions

A Timestamp convention could be 13th August 2006 or 13/08/2006, or yet 08/13/2006 followed by the hours: 13:30.5 or 13:30:30 or 13h03m30s etc...

Recommended Timestamp Convention

For example if one would choose the 13-08-2006 convention then here's a date set's chronological sorting:

• 13-08-2006
• 11-09-2006
• 12-10-2006

And here's the same set's alphabetical sorting (this is the default sorting when prompting for a directory listing):

• 11-09-2006
• 12-10-2006
• 13-08-2006

The alphabetical and chronological sorting don't match! This is a nuisance, especially when dealing with timestamped files (ex: 11-09-2006_myfile.dat). Thus, the best suited Timestamp Convention in computerized systems is one that matches alphabetical sorting with chronological sorting. The simplest one is the 20060813 convention. Here's the same set's alphabetical sorting:

• 20060811
• 20060812
• 20060813

and here's the chronological sorting:

• 20060811
• 20060812
• 20060813

They're the same! Thus, throughout this wiki, editors are encouraged to use the 20060813 timestamp convention.