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authorGuido van Rossum <guido@python.org>1998-06-09 21:25:41 (GMT)
committerGuido van Rossum <guido@python.org>1998-06-09 21:25:41 (GMT)
commit929bd0e02e0fd3062db0ad08443dbfd2846f1f8c (patch)
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parentdd47ec98e2030c51b78ddf18a5765cad8bdc642d (diff)
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Added notes about epochs, the year 2038, and a small Y2K disclaimer
(all with index entries!). Also update the list of functions that take or yield a time represented as a 9-tuple.
Diffstat (limited to 'Doc/lib/libtime.tex')
-rw-r--r--Doc/lib/libtime.tex23
1 files changed, 19 insertions, 4 deletions
diff --git a/Doc/lib/libtime.tex b/Doc/lib/libtime.tex
index 483469d..711347b 100644
--- a/Doc/lib/libtime.tex
+++ b/Doc/lib/libtime.tex
@@ -13,7 +13,21 @@ An explanation of some terminology and conventions is in order.
The \dfn{epoch}\index{epoch} is the point where the time starts. On
January 1st of that year, at 0 hours, the ``time since the epoch'' is
zero. For \UNIX{}, the epoch is 1970. To find out what the epoch is,
-look at \code{gmtime(0)}.
+look at \code{gmtime(0)}.%
+\index{epoch}
+
+\item
+The functions in this module don't handle dates and times before the
+epoch or far in the future. The cut-off point in the future is
+determined by the C library; for \UNIX{}, it is typically in 2038.%
+\index{Year 2038}
+
+\item
+Year 2000 (Y2K) issues: Python depends on the platform's C library,
+which generally doesn't have year 2000 issues, since all dates and
+times are represented internally as seconds since the epoch.%
+\index{Year 2000}%
+\index{Y2K}
\item
UTC is Coordinated Universal Time (formerly known as Greenwich Mean
@@ -48,8 +62,9 @@ nonzero fraction (\UNIX{} \cfunction{select()} is used to implement
this, where available).
\item
-The time tuple as returned by \function{gmtime()} and
-\function{localtime()}, or as accpted by \function{mktime()} is a
+The time tuple as returned by \function{gmtime()},
+\function{localtime()}, and \function{strptime()}, and accepted by
+\function{asctime()}, \function{mktime()} and \function{strftime()}, is a
tuple of 9 integers: year (e.g.\ 1993), month (1--12), day (1--31),
hour (0--23), minute (0--59), second (0--59), weekday (0--6, monday is
0), Julian day (1--366) and daylight savings flag (-1, 0 or 1).
@@ -99,7 +114,7 @@ Nonzero if a DST timezone is defined.
\begin{funcdesc}{gmtime}{secs}
Convert a time expressed in seconds since the epoch to a time tuple
in UTC in which the dst flag is always zero. Fractions of a second are
-ignored.
+ignored. See above for a description of the tuple lay-out.
\end{funcdesc}
\begin{funcdesc}{localtime}{secs}