1. The date_time library in the currenct CVS doesn't follow the standard formatted input/output requirements in the C++ standard. e.g. stringstream s("205-Jan-01"); date d; s >> d; will throw "Year out of valid range" exception instead of just setting the badbit. The resolution is to use the sentry object and catch exceptions: template <class charT, class traits> inline std::basic_istream<charT, traits>& operator>>(std::basic_istream<charT, traits>& is, date& d) { std::basic_istream<charT, traits>::sentry cerberos(is, false); if (cerberos) { std::ios_base::iostate status = std::ios_base::iostate (std::ios_base::goodbit); try { ... //use facet and set status if failed } catch (...) { is.setstate(std::ios_base::badbit); } if (status) is.setstate(status); } return is } --------------- 2. The default date format is "%Y-%b-%d" which is very confusing since it is using a date order that is not common in english speaking countries while it uses english month names. The default format should be "%x". (I know this will create problems with input parsing on some STL libraries but I think it is a better than the current solution where almost nobody can use the default). --------------- 3. The streaming functions all add a new facet to the locale if no current facet has been imbued. Wouldn't it be better to either have a singleton "default" facet for all streams or imbue the facet to the global locale instead?