[LEAPSECS] Lets get REAL about time.

[Poul-Henning Kamp]

Pierpaolo Bernardi <olopierpa at gmail.com> asks:


> Why not use the TAI epoch instead, as to not multiply needlessly epochs.


The Epoch is not important, and for reasons of debugging programmer
mistakes, preferably clearly visibly different from other magic numbers.

In message <4F198C3C.3050308 at comcast.net>, Gerard Ashton writes:


>For the smallest time resolution required, [...]

>The time for light to travel this distance is about 3 as, or about 2^-58 s.


That still leaves 54 bits of integer seconds using the binary128 format,
that should be plenty for the forseeable past and future.

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Poul-Henning Kamp       | UNIX since Zilog Zeus 3.20
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