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Representing Time

Absolute Time

my_time = Time('2020-01-01 12:00:00 +08:00')    # absolute time.  
  • constructible from different representations
  • internal data does not contain the time zone
  • equality: two times are equal if they denote the same point in time. Time zone does not play a role.
  • comparison is also supported

Civil Time

my_cicil_time = CivilTime('2020-01-01 12:00:00 +08:00')  
  • Data representation of both point in time and time zone (e.g. as is common in Python's datetime)
  • two CivilTimes compare equal if both the point in time and the time zones compare equal

CivilDate

my_date = CivilDate('2020-03-27')  
  • not opinionated about time zone: time zone not saved
  • not equivalent to specifying an absolute time / interval: it is up to the interpretation of the consumer which points in time time / interval this corresponds to
  • potentially useful for storing "sloppy" information like "date of birth" etc.

References & Material