In use at the present time are a multitude of methods for specifying the date. They can be categorised as:
For the purpose of a benchmark formats in the latter category must be used as a benchmark must be, above all, unambiguous. Formats in this latter set are characterised by the
The following standard is suggested:
dd-mmm-yyyy
where dd = day of the month,
mmm = alpha month from the set ``Jan, Feb,
Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep,
Oct, Nov, Dec,'' and
yyyy = year with leading century.
The set of alpha months is chosen as the first three letters of the long form of the month name in English, thus ``Jul'' is used in preference to ``Jly.'' Four digit years are adopted given the proximity of the turn of the century. The hyphen separator is arbitrary but is used to distinguish between the ``/'' common used in dd/mm/yy family formats.