#Python iso 8601 timestamp how to#

But of course, this is up to every programming team to define for themselves. If the timezone is omitted, the datetime is usually interpreted to be recording the locale time.

#Python iso 8601 timestamp how to#

This ISO standard defines how to format dates and date-times without confusion and misunderstandings. DST simply modifies the В±:-part of the date-time: EuropeвЂ™s CTE (=Central European Time) is usually described as UTC + 1, but during the summer, when DST kicks in, it simply becomes UTC + 2. The daylight saving time (=DST) does not affect UTC. This time is also sometimes called the Zulu time since NATOвЂ™s phonetic alphabet for Z is вЂњZuluвЂќ. The letter Z is used for historical reasons because Z was the name of the timezone using this time. In code, we usually denote it with +00:00 or with a Z. But UTC is also used as a successor of GMT (=Greenwich Mean Time) to describe the time at the 0В° meridian. It defined how time will be measured and coordinated between everybody. So I had to read a few docs and a few standards to really, truly understand what to do with missing timezones and whether the datetime I am creating is really and truly the exact datetime I want and not one that is 1h before or ahead (my timezone is +01:00, which is very easy to mistake for +00:00). How is my super-duper, time-lord of a Celery task supposed to lord the time if a single measly timezone-lacking datetime knocks it out of its balance? What a grievous mistake it was to allow programmers to forget about timezones, to just call now () and hope for the best. And suddenly I am finding myself appalled by all datetimes with no timezone info. I never had much trouble with date-times, until last week, when I had to create a humble Celery task that needs to be a master of time, that needs to understand how all the dates on all these objects relate to one another. now (), am I getting the correct time or should I adjust it with a timezone suffix?вЂќ. вЂњDo we use UTC dates everywhere with no timezone information or do we store timezones into the DB?вЂќ was another question. вЂњMy time now is 16:44, what is that in UTC time?вЂќ is what I asked myself last week.