[Python-Dev] datetime module enhancements (original) (raw)

BJörn Lindqvist bjourne at gmail.com
Fri Mar 9 18:24:34 CET 2007

On 3/9/07, Guido van Rossum <guido at python.org> wrote:

On 3/9/07, skip at pobox.com <skip at pobox.com> wrote: > The range of datetime objects far exceeds that of the current Unix > timestamp. Given that the range of current (32-bit) Unix timestamps is > approximately 1970 to 2038, What would the output of this be? > > dt = datetime.datetime(3000, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0) > print dt.totimestamp() > dt = datetime.datetime(1900, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0) > print dt.totimestamp()

If you extend the range to 64 bits there's no problem: the first should print 32503680000, the second -2208988800.

I think it should be a ValueError, given that the programmer is very likely to further use the returned timestamp to for example insert stuff in a database. Unix timestamps are not unambiguously defined for any years other than 1970 to 2038 imho.

-- mvh Björn

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