[Datetime-SIG] Clearing up terminology

[Chris Barker]

On Wed, Jul 29, 2015 at 5:27 PM, Alexander Belopolsky <
alexander.belopolsky at gmail.com> wrote:

> Offset: "simply the difference between UTC and local time.


> * Time zone: "a mapping from UTC instants to offsets"
>


> Given this terminology and the following UNIX date utility invocation,
>
> $ TZ=Australia/Melbourne date +"%c%z"
> Thu 30 Jul 2015 10:21:18 AM EST+1000
>
> what is (a) Australia/Melbourne, (b) EST?
>

Ah yes, great fun -- what the heck do you call them?

I would say "Australia/Melbourne" is a TimeZone.

EST is a offset -- "Eastern Standard Time" -- i.e. an offset of 5 hours
from UTC, and "Standard Time", so does not change with DST rules, so not a
full TimeZone.

-CHB




-- 

Christopher Barker, Ph.D.
Oceanographer

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