[Python-Dev] datetime +/- scalars (int, long, float)? (original) (raw)

Jack Jansen Jack.Jansen@oratrix.com
Tue, 5 Mar 2002 22:32:04 +0100

On dinsdag, maart 5, 2002, at 08:25 , Guido van Rossum wrote:

I think I want to introduce a new concept, closely related to local time, that I'll dub "naive time" for now. In naive time, there is no timezone and there is no DST. To compensate for DST, you have to manually change the clock, which is an action outside the system, unknown to the system, and irrelevant to the working of the system. Ditto to change time zones.

This sounds like an absolutely brilliant idea! And I think that if you keep the equivalent of the tm_isdst bit you can get all the conversions working too. And it fits the model: I have a naive tm_isdst bit in my head on that one night per year (if it hasn't been lost in partying yet:-).

Hmm, and possibly you want a function discontinuity(t1, t2) that will return 0 normally but something else (a value in seconds? Then it could even be used for leap seconds by the real die-hards) if there's a time discontinuity between t1 and t2.