[Python-Dev] Store timestamps as decimal.Decimal objects

[Alexander Belopolsky]

On Mon, Jan 30, 2012 at 6:31 PM, Victor Stinner
<victor.stinner at haypocalc.com> wrote:
> Alexander Belopolsky proposed to use
> time.time(format=datetime.datetime) instead.

Just to make sure my view is fully expressed: I am against adding flag
arguments to time.time().  My preferred solution to exposing high
resolution clocks is to do it in a separate module.  You can even call
the new function time() and access it as hirestime.time().  Longer
names that reflect various time representation are also an option:
hirestime.decimal_time(), hirestime.datetime_time() etc.

The suggestion to use the actual type as a flag was motivated by the
desire to require module import before fancy time.time() can be
called.  When you care about nanoseconds in your time stamps you won't
tolerate an I/O delay between calling time() and getting the result.
A separate module can solve this issue much better: simply import
decimal or datetime or both at the top of the module.