On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 4:27 AM, Roy Smith <r...@panix.com> wrote: > In article <mailman.1574.1357138278.29569.python-l...@python.org>, > Chris Angelico <ros...@gmail.com> wrote: > >>> I assume you mean timestamps. A date doesn't need to worry about UTC >>> the way a timestamp does. > > I'm not sure how a date and a timestamp differ in any significant > way. A date is just a very low-precision time. > > I suppose what's really essential is a way to quickly see the current > UTC time. That way, when you're looking at some event in a log file, > it's easy to figure out, "that was 20 minutes ago", as opposed to, > "that was 5 hours and 20 minutes ago". I run my desktop in New York > time (so I know when I'm supposed to eat lunch), but I also have a > second clock widget displaying UTC time just below it. Right now, > it's 17:22.
The difference between "20 minutes ago" and "5 hours and 20 minutes ago" doesn't really come up when your resolution is 86400 seconds, as is the case with a date :) I have the same sort of thing. My desktop's clock is on local time (4:33AM), but my server tells me, when I type 'who', that "The current UTC (GMT) time is: Wed 17:33:35" (it doesn't bother with the date, only the day of week, as the main purpose of that time display is to help people synchronize on weekly events). ChrisA -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
