M. Warner Losh wrote:
In message: <445cb57a-6fcf-4933-a288-bd1521352...@noao.edu>
Rob Seaman <sea...@noao.edu> writes:
: On Mar 10, 2010, at 10:12 PM, M. Warner Losh wrote:
:
: > Maybe we just need to toss the word 'idealized' in there somehow.
: >
: > time_t is an idealized representation of seconds since 1970.
:
: "Idealized representation" is a tautology.
Actually, it isn't. If it were an actual representation, it would
have leap seconds in it.
There are two aspects here, the leap seconds and the actual tracking
error. time_t tries to achieve two incompatible things at the same time,
but for all practical matters, implementers chooses to use the mapping
from the real UTC. time_t isn't looking like either TAI or UTC. It isn't
piece-wise linear, but it could maybe be said to be nominally piece-wise
linear to UTC. It's the closest I come right now.
Cheers,
Magnus
_______________________________________________
LEAPSECS mailing list
LEAPSECS@leapsecond.com
http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/leapsecs
