Zend_Locale_Format is a internal component used by
Zend_Locale. All locale aware classes use
Zend_Locale_Format for normalization and localization of numbers and
dates. Normalization involves parsing input from a variety of data representations, like
dates, into a standardized, structured representation, such as a PHP
array with year, month, and day elements.
The exact same string containing a number or a date might mean different things to people
with different customs and conventions. Disambiguation of numbers and dates requires rules
about how to interpret these strings and normalize the values into a standardized data
structure. Thus, all methods in Zend_Locale_Format require a locale
in order to parse the input data.
Default "root" Locale
If no locale is specified, then normalization and localization will use the standard "root" locale, which might yield unexpected behavior, if the input originated in a different locale, or output for a specific locale was expected.