Subj : anyway the wind blows
To   : Wilfred van Velzen
From : Maurice Kinal
Date : Wed Apr 14 2021 12:17:02

-={ 2021-04-14 12:17:02.619723556+00:00 }=-

Hey Wilfred!

 WvV> So your algorithm based on unixtime has a bug!

That was just a demo which probably is accurate for time based serialno's generated by abandonware which will likely never get fixed.

 WvV> It should take into account it can be called multiple times
 WvV> within the same second.

Sure.  How about this?

  6076da69-1689a348
  6076da69-16bf0244
  6076da69-16f7701c
  6076da69-172abd44
  6076da69-175c7788
  6076da69-179027b0
  6076da69-17c263b4
  6076da69-17f51008
  6076da69-18287584
  6076da69-185be1cc

Note that all of the above were created in the same second and there are zero collisions.  Also note that the following 8 hex characters are in sequence and are indeed unique.  The above routine has a shelf life of just over 2 billion years since the leading seconds hex field is not a fixed field and will expand by one hex character when it is required.  The second part after the ascii dash is from strftime()'s %N (nanoseconds) which only requires 8 hex characters for all time BUT in my future proposal, if it gets that far, will allow for picoseconds when they become available by adding 2 hex digits which will make it a fixed 10 hex digit field.

 WvV> If you do that correctly, it's superior to the random one...

See above but just for fun I will do it side by side just like before.

  6076e0bd-22d50e70 n3yM8uFm
  6076e0bd-246302d4 sL4Irxdg
  6076e0bd-25d0d1f0 8fq4vU7e
  6076e0bd-276236a4 Aez4QZog
  6076e0bd-28f6291c jbQiqKYc
  6076e0bd-2a842704 gElrH3UT
  6076e0bd-2bf24d98 8qmyLLQR
  6076e0bd-2d8103dc Pbeaul1Z
  6076e0bd-2f0436d0 IHsKacHr
  6076e0bd-30a01b60 0An6jRkx

My best guesstimation is that the random one is superior given that it doesn't require a rewrite of current FTN standards.  However I do plan to change that and then for sure the unixtime based one will be superior and unique for all time, nevermind 3 lousy years.

I doubt there is anything better currently in use to either of the above routines and most definetly nothing even comes close to the unixtime based one.  It is a work of pure genius.  :-)

Hm.  Interesting tagline got tossed into the works considering the content of this reply.  It looks to me the Anglo-Saxons might have had working knowledge of the Laws of Thermodynamics long before it's time.

Life is good,
Maurice

.... Eal þæt þu her sceawast hit is sceaduwa gelic, æll hit gewitað.
    All that you see here is like a shadow; it will all vanish.
--- GNU bash, version 5.1.4(1)-release (x86_64-motorshed-linux-gnu)
 * Origin: Little Mikey's Brain - Ladysmith BC, Canada (1:153/7001)

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