Recently working on a XML data feed program, I had to handle empty date XML elements. I wondered as to what date I can put into the database - the start of time?. What is the start of time used by computer systems?
As Java programmers we all know that the Date, Calendar classes in Java use January 1, 1970 as the start of 'time'. This is known as Epoch. Wikipedia defines epoch as follows:
"The epoch serves as a reference point from which time is measured. Days, hours and other time units are counted from the epoch, so that the date and time of events can be specified. Events that took place earlier can be dated by counting negatively from the epoch."
There are different epocs used by different systems:
- Unix and Java use Jan 1, 1970
- MS DOS uses Jan 1, 1980
- Excel and Lotus = Dec 31, 1899
More info can be found here.
As for me, I decided to use the Java Epoc for my program :)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment