[Python-ideas] Rename time module to "posixtime"

[Cameron Simpson]

On 16Jun2010 10:37, Brett Cannon <brett at python.org> wrote:
| On Wed, Jun 16, 2010 at 00:56, M.-A. Lemburg <mal at egenix.com> wrote:
| > Brett Cannon wrote:
| >> On Tue, Jun 15, 2010 at 16:01, Cameron Simpson <cs at zip.com.au> wrote:
| >>> On 15Jun2010 10:47, Alexander Belopolsky <alexander.belopolsky at gmail.com> wrote:
| >>> | I've reread my post and have to admit that I did not explain this
| >>> | point clearly.  There are currently three different ways to represent
| >>> | a point in time: datetime object, unix timestamp, and a 9-element time
| >>> | tuple.  While the datetime module has its share of criticism, its
| >>> | interfaces are more user friendly and more "pythonic" than C inspired
| >>> | time module interfaces.
| >>>
| >>> Personally, I would be happy to see unix-timestamp and datetime object,
| >>> and see the time tuples go away.
[...]
| >> I agree with this sentiment. The UNIX timestamp stuff should stay in
| >> time, the time tuple stuff should just go, and datetime should be
| >> fleshed out to handle all the stuff that is not a direct wrapping
| >> around libc.
[...]
| > -1.
| > Please note that the time module provides access to low-level OS
| > provided services which the datetime module does not expose.
| > You cannot seriously expect that an application which happily uses
| > the time module (only) for its limited date/time functionality
| > to have to be rewritten just to stay compatible with Python.
| 
| No, but the work to move people off of time tuples and over to
| datetime objects or timestamps can start so that the next stdlib reorg
| can drop time tuples without causing major pains.

"I agree with this sentiment." :-)

I, also, was insufficiently clear. I don't want any code to break, and
Alexander's proposal describes a non-breaking approach. I would like my
earlier statement to be read as wanting it to be possible to work with
unixtimes and datetimes and never need to use a time tuple, and for the
documentation to direct users to datetimes and unixtimes as the obvious
and sufficent way to do things.

[...]
| I don't care as much about the rename as I do about losing time tuples
| in the long run.
| 
| > The only improvement I could see, would be to move
| > calendar.timegm() to the time module, since that's where
| > it belongs (keeping an alias in the calendar module, of
| > course).
| 
| That should definitely happen at some point.

+1 to the above too. That the "Use the following functions to convert
between time representations" table near the top of the "time" module
documentation reaches for the calendar module grates.

Cheers,
-- 
Cameron Simpson <cs at zip.com.au> DoD#743
http://www.cskk.ezoshosting.com/cs/

In any event, this is a straw herring for debate.
        - solovay at netcom.com (Andrew Solovay)