

XKCD: ISO 8601 Dates - vshot
http://xkcd.com/1179/

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drharris
I've been using this format for years. It's the only reasonable format for
dealing with sorting information. Nothing aggravates me like files that use
month/day/year format; it's useless.

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hga
Indeed; I was introduced to it by a boss in 1987-88, and when I did a lot of
high speed, high volume document imaging and management work in the early-mid
'90s it saved my posterior more times than I can count.

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vxNsr
I was gonna post this, but didn't think it was important enough. But I like
the idea, so much so that from today forward all dates I ever write will be
formatted like that, change yourself then change the world: one date at a
time.

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dottrap
This date format is great for sorting. No need to chop up strings or break
into components.

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userulluipeste
It's also worth mentioning that the same ISO 8601 provides formats for the
same date in other forms, like:

2013-058, 2013-W09-3, and so on...

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pasbesoin
As soon as you have to do any significant sorting (for yourself, not using a
utility/function) on these values, you arrive at this conclusion for yourself.
(What becomes debatable is whether to use subfield separators, and if so,
which. If you have to eyeball the values at all, the answer to the first part
tends to quickly become "yes". System constraints as well as legibility then
tend to constrain which is/are chosen.)

