[time-nuts] The Problem with Time & Timezones - Computerphile

[Tim Shoppa]

That's the magic of tz database for timezones and NIST leap-second file for
leap seconds. The code stays same from year to year, but as politics
changes timezones or IERS announces leapseconds, you just make sure you
load the new tz file and leap-seconds file.

Re-writing and re-testing code every time there's a change is such a losing
proposition :-(. Updating a data file, that's a lot easier.

http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6557

ftp://time.nist.gov/pub/leap-seconds.3535228800


On Fri, May 9, 2014 at 1:45 PM, Mark Sims <holrum at hotmail.com> wrote:

> Ahh,  but with Lady Heather you can specify the time zone offset (down to
> the second) and the when the daylight savings time switchovers occur.   And
> from experience,  I can tell you that the code to do it is a royal pain in
> the ass...  not all that hard to do,  but a pain to test.
> --------------
> That is the problem.  Even if someone gives you this code free and it
> works, then some years from now some country will change the date when they
> switch over to daylight savings or they even change a time zone offset.
>
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