[Python-Dev] proposal: add basic time type to the standard library (original) (raw)

Jim Fulton jim@zope.com
Tue, 26 Feb 2002 09:05:11 -0500

Guido van Rossum wrote:

[Tim] > Are you sure Jim is looking to replace the TimeStamp object? All the > complaints I've seen aren't about the relatively tiny TimeStamp object, but > about Zope's relatively huge DateTime class (note that you won't have source > for that if you're looking at a StandaloneZODB checkout -- DateTime is used > at higher Zope levels), which is a Python class with a couple dozen(!) > instance attributes. See, e.g., > > http://dev.zope.org/Wikis/DevSite/Proposals/ReplacingDateTime > > It seems clear from the source code that TimeStamp is exactly what Jim > intended it to be . I'm notoriously bad at channeling Jim. Nevertheless, I do recall him saying he wanted a lightweight time object. I think the mistake of DateTime is that it stores the broken-out info, rather than computing it on request.

I don't think the mistake was so much to store broken-out info, but to store too much data in general. It stores redundant data, which makes it's implementation a bit difficult to understand and maintain.

Note that scalability was not a goal of Zope's DateTime type. We meant to replace it with something much tighter a long time ago, but never got around to it.

> > Your idea of a base type (which presumably standarizes at least one > > form of representation) sounds like a breakthrough that can help > > satisfy different other needs. > > Best I can make out, /F is only proposing what Jim would call an Interface: > the existence of two methods, timetuple() and utctimetuple(). In a comment > on his page, /F calls it an "abstract" base class, which is more C++-ish > terminology, and the sample implementation makes clear it's a "pure" > abstract base class, so same thing as a Jim Interface in the end.

Yup.

I'll show the PEP to Jim when it appears.

Thanks. ;)

BTW, has there been any progress on this?

Jim

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