[MLton] should Date.{fromString,scan} allow space instead of zero?

[Stephen Weeks]

> Anyway, maybe this is moot, as perhpas this date issue is the only place 
> where there is an obvious need for improvement... but if this becomes a 
> trend.. I'd prefer the improvments be on by default.

Yes, Date.{fromString,scan} is currently the only place where we
(might) do this.  And John Reppy hasn't even weighed in on the issue,
so the point also may be moot because he may agree to change the spec.

If we had a flag governing deviations, I would lean towards making the
default for the flag to be to conform to the spec.  It's almost always
worth it to make it explicit to the user when he is deviating from a
standard.

On the other hand, in a situation like this, I think it comes down to
whether you consider this a bug in the spec or not.  It can quite
reasonably be considered a bug, given how many programs out there
generate dates with spaces.  In the case that we consider it to be a
bug and expect it to be fixed, it seems reasonable to not have it
governed by a flag and to amend our Basis Library docs until the
official spec is fixed.  I lean toward this for now.