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Because people working with timestamps like to write code that says things like: // schedule another run for tomorrow schedule_event(now() + 86400) ..
by thristian 15y ago
Because people working with timestamps like to write code that says things like:
// schedule another run for tomorrow
schedule_event(now() + 86400)
...which doesn't actually work when leap-seconds are involved (things start to drift by a second). If you specify that leap seconds get replayed, it works.
- shaggyfrog 15y agoAn article previously linked on Hacker News goes into leap seconds in much greater detail and is a good read: http://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2011/5/107699-the-one-second-war/fulltext http://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2011/5/107699-the-one-second-w...
- bluedanieru 15y agoStrange then that we'd scold a developer for assuming the number of hours in a day, or the timezone, or whatever, but not for using Unix time as an absolute time, when in fact it is not an absolute time at all and even caters to the same error in thought.