[Python-Dev] proposal: add basic time type to the standard library

Tim Peters tim@zope.com
Thu, 28 Feb 2002 17:30:49 -0500


[Jim Fulton]
>>> ZODB has a TimeStamp type that uses a 32-bit unsigned integer
>>> to store year, month,, day, hour, and minute in a way that
>>> makes it dirt simple to extract a component.

[Tim]
>> You really think so?  It's a mixed-radix scheme:
>>
>>           v=((((y-1900)*12+mo-1)*31+d-1)*24+h)*60+m;
>>
>> so requires lots of expensive integer division and remainder ...

[Jim]
> Compared to storing date-times as offsets from an epoch, this is
> much simpler and cheaper.

OK, as with most things, it boils down to the definition of dirt:  you're
contrasting hard-packed dirt with a 21%-dirt 79%-concrete mix, and I'm
constrasting hard-packed dirt with household dust.  I'm sure you'll agree
that's a rigorously correct summary <wink>.