Added notes about epochs, the year 2038, and a small Y2K disclaimer
(all with index entries!). Also update the list of functions that take or yield a time represented as a 9-tuple.
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@ -13,7 +13,21 @@ An explanation of some terminology and conventions is in order.
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The \dfn{epoch}\index{epoch} is the point where the time starts. On
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January 1st of that year, at 0 hours, the ``time since the epoch'' is
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zero. For \UNIX{}, the epoch is 1970. To find out what the epoch is,
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look at \code{gmtime(0)}.
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look at \code{gmtime(0)}.%
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\index{epoch}
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\item
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The functions in this module don't handle dates and times before the
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epoch or far in the future. The cut-off point in the future is
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determined by the C library; for \UNIX{}, it is typically in 2038.%
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\index{Year 2038}
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\item
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Year 2000 (Y2K) issues: Python depends on the platform's C library,
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which generally doesn't have year 2000 issues, since all dates and
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times are represented internally as seconds since the epoch.%
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\index{Year 2000}%
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\index{Y2K}
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\item
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UTC is Coordinated Universal Time (formerly known as Greenwich Mean
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@ -48,8 +62,9 @@ nonzero fraction (\UNIX{} \cfunction{select()} is used to implement
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this, where available).
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\item
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The time tuple as returned by \function{gmtime()} and
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\function{localtime()}, or as accpted by \function{mktime()} is a
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The time tuple as returned by \function{gmtime()},
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\function{localtime()}, and \function{strptime()}, and accepted by
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\function{asctime()}, \function{mktime()} and \function{strftime()}, is a
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tuple of 9 integers: year (e.g.\ 1993), month (1--12), day (1--31),
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hour (0--23), minute (0--59), second (0--59), weekday (0--6, monday is
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0), Julian day (1--366) and daylight savings flag (-1, 0 or 1).
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@ -99,7 +114,7 @@ Nonzero if a DST timezone is defined.
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\begin{funcdesc}{gmtime}{secs}
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Convert a time expressed in seconds since the epoch to a time tuple
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in UTC in which the dst flag is always zero. Fractions of a second are
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ignored.
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ignored. See above for a description of the tuple lay-out.
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\end{funcdesc}
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\begin{funcdesc}{localtime}{secs}
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