[LEAPSECS] Crunching Bulletin B numbers (POSIX time)

[Rob Seaman]

Paul Sheer wrote:


> A miss is as good as a mile when a timestamp is an index into a hash table.


...and also when a timestamp is an "index" into Earth orientation.  Timestamps serve multiple purposes.  POSIX is not the only fount of requirements placed on timekeeping.


> Inclusion of leap second information into ascii timestamps is another solution to the leap second problem which I was going to propose.


There is no "leap second problem", rather a "civil timekeeping problem".  Leap seconds are one possible means to an end, that is, they comprise an element of the solution space not the problem space.

Rob Seaman
National Optical Astronomy Observatory