[LEAPSECS] RIP dmr, -893400000 to 1318100000

[Rob Seaman]

Sad news indeed.

The age of the Earth spans -1.43e17 to +1.3e9.  Whether this corresponds to a "count" is, of course, the heart of the issue.

Regarding an appeal to authority, note that "time" doesn't appear in the index for the 1st edition of K&R.  But that in the 2nd edition we learn that "local time [...] may differ from calendar time" such that "gmtime converts the calendar time...into Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)" while "localtime converts the calendar time...into local time."  Whatever the definition of these clocks, there are clearly two of them.

Finally, "The name gmtime has historical significance."  It is precisely the interface between history and technology that we have been discussing all this time.

Rest in peace.

Rob
--

On Oct 13, 2011, at 5:30 AM, Poul-Henning Kamp wrote:


> In message <20111013122822.GL10036 at lake.fysh.org>, Zefram writes:

>> It's being reported that Dennis Ritchie, the inventor of Unix time

>> among other things, died about 500 ks ago.  His life spanned -893400000

>> to 1318100000 in Unix time.  And now we can no longer ask him for

>> clarification about whether the count was meant to include leap seconds.

> 

> I asked in 1998, it was not.