Hi, I suggest removing the deprecation warning when constructing a datetime64 with a timezone. For example, this is the current behavior:
np.datetime64('2020-11-05 16:00+0200') <stdin>:1: DeprecationWarning: parsing timezone aware datetimes is deprecated; this will raise an error in the future numpy.datetime64('2020-11-05T14:00')
I suggest removing the deprecation warning because I find this to be a useful behavior, and because it is a correct behavior. The manual says: "The datetime object represents a single moment in time... Datetimes are always stored based on POSIX time, with an epoch of 1970-01-01T00:00Z." So 2020-11-05T16:00+0200 is indeed the moment in time represented by np.datetime64('2020-11-05T14:00'). I just used this to restrict my data set to records created after a certain moment. It was easier for me to write the moment in my local time and add "+0200" than to figure out the moment representation in UTC. So this is my simple suggestion: remove the deprecation warning. Beyond that, I have 3 ideas for changing the repr of datetime64 that I would like to discuss. 1. Add "Z" at the end, for example, numpy.datetime64('2020-11-05T14:00Z'). This will make it clear to which moment it refers. I think this is significant - I had to dig quite a bit to realize that datetime64('2020-11-05T14:00') means 14:00 UTC. 2. Replace the 'T' with a space. I just find it much easier to read '2020-11-05 14:00Z' than '2020-11-05T14:00Z'. The long sequence of characters makes it hard for my brain to parse. 3. This will require discussion, but will be very convenient: have the repr display the time using the environment time zone, including a time offset. So, in my specific time zone (+0200), I will have: repr(np.datetime64('2020-11-05 14:00Z')) == "numpy.datetime64('2020-11-05T16:00+0200')" I'm sure the pros and cons of having an environment-dependent repr should be discussed. But I will list some pros: 1. It's very convenient - it's immediately obvious to me to which moment 2020-11-05 16:00+0200 refers. 2. It's well defined - I may collect timestamps from machines with different time zones, and I will be able to know to which exact moment each timestamp refers. 3. It's very simple - I could compare any two timestamps, I don't have to worry about time zones. I would be happy to hear your thoughts. Thanks, Noam