Timeline for sorting ascending vs descending
Current License: CC BY-SA 2.5
7 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 29, 2017 at 16:56 | comment | added | Charles Robertson | @Jonathan. I know this explanation sounds a bit 'Peter & Jane', but the way I visualise this, is: I am at the bottom of the stairs. The first stair is stair number 1 and the second stair is stair number 2 etc. As I "ascend", the stair number increases, so I am going from the lowest numbered to the highest numbered stair. And dates are actually just numbers [seconds actually from 1970]. So with date order=asc, means that you see the least recent [lowest number] dates first & date order=desc, means that you see the most recent [highest number] dates first! | |
| Mar 24, 2014 at 19:02 | comment | added | Adam Dunn | I know I'm late, but I'll point out for the alphabet: think of it in ASCII (Unicode) numbering. Z is highest in number, while A is lowest in number. So a descending alphabet starts at Z and ends at A. | |
| Mar 21, 2011 at 15:57 | vote | accept | Jonathan. | ||
| Mar 21, 2011 at 15:57 | comment | added | Jonathan. | ok I've just never understood ascending and descending I find they are uselessly indiscriptive and kind of generic. I'll just have to take 15 minutes to learn them. | |
| Mar 21, 2011 at 15:49 | comment | added | Kevin Montrose |
@Jonathan - that is what ascending means, and that's why the most recent dates are returned first in when order=desc; since they are larger than dates in the past.
|
|
| Mar 21, 2011 at 7:33 | comment | added | Jonathan. | Surely ascending means, as you go up the list the value gets greater? It doesn't say this in /usage | |
| Mar 21, 2011 at 1:38 | history | answered | Kevin Montrose | CC BY-SA 2.5 |