[Python-ideas] Rename time module to "posixtime"

[Cameron Simpson]

On 15Jun2010 10:47, Alexander Belopolsky <alexander.belopolsky at gmail.com> wrote:
| On Tue, Jun 15, 2010 at 4:07 AM, M.-A. Lemburg <mal at egenix.com> wrote:
| > Alexander Belopolsky wrote:
| >> One of the common complains about working with time values in Python,
| >> is that it some functionality is available in time module, some in
| >> datetime module and some in both.
| ..
| > I'm not sure I understand the point in renaming the module.
| 
| I've reread my post and have to admit that I did not explain this
| point clearly.  There are currently three different ways to represent
| a point in time: datetime object, unix timestamp, and a 9-element time
| tuple.  While the datetime module has its share of criticism, its
| interfaces are more user friendly and more "pythonic" than C inspired
| time module interfaces.

Personally, I would be happy to see unix-timestamp and datetime object,
and see the time tuples go away.

The tuples are a direct mirror of the unix "struct tm" structures and and
should really only be visible in a "posixtime" module of some kind - the
datetime objects are their direct equivalents anyway to my mind and should be
what are dealt with for human calendar stuff.

However, the unix timestamps should stay (or anything equivalent that
measures real world seconds, but since any epoch will do for that purpose
and we've got the unix one in use I'd stay with it). They represent an
absolute timeframe and let one do direct arithmetic. If I'm not doing
calendar things (or only doing them for presentation) then the unix
timestamp is usually my preferred time item.

| Conversions between timestamp/timetuple and datetime are quite awkward
| as well. We have datetime.timetuple(), but no fromtimetuple() (you
| have to write cryptic datetime(*tt[:6]).  With timestamps, it is the
| opposite.  We have a full compliment of
| fromtimestamp/utcfromtimestamp, but no functions to go in the opposite
| direction.

Yes, awful. Having spent a fair chunk of yesterday trying to obtain an
adapter (or chain of adapters) to join a 3G modem to an antenna with a
different end, I feel your pain. And I've felt it with the time
functions too.

Cheers,
-- 
Cameron Simpson <cs at zip.com.au> DoD#743
http://www.cskk.ezoshosting.com/cs/

A man with one watch knows what time it is; a man with two watches is
never sure. - Lee Segall