Storing race times

Our archives text files will store race times in the customary 1:23.45 or 23.45 format. However, many systems have difficulty handling the colon (Excel and dBase), so, if it is desired the H&A Committee will make available an alternative "cleansed" format when requested. This RFP does not need to deal with this.

The following was written by Leo Letendre and seems useful as a USMS convention. "I have written a number of programs which need to store time including 3 or 4 for swimming. When a data type has been available within the language which is time based (for example the VAX had a 64 bit date/time format with resolution of 100 microseconds) I have used that. On systems that do not have a time data type, I have generally found it easier to store it as either a real number or a string that looks like a real number. That is, it was stored in the form of 123.45 for 1:23.45. The reason I chose this format is based upon ease of manipulation. Yes, I had to remove any formatting when accepting input and add it when I printed the time but everything else in between was simplified. If I had to convert from real number to string, string to real number, convert from SCY to SCM, sort, etc, I did not have to worry about formatting (eg. for a 100 free, making sure the 59.99 had a : in from if it all of the time so that it would sort correctly). As far as someone looking at the internal representation I would suggest that the number of people who really need to worry about it is limited and should be able to read 123.45 for what it is." (Leo Letendre)