 | Time_T Discussion |
The variable time_t is a standard data type used to store the number of seconds since the standard UNIX Epoch, 00:00:00 January 1, 1970 UTC. When this variable reaches 10 digits (1,000,000,000 seconds), it can be calculated fairly straightforwardly as follows:
- Every four years there is a leap year between 1900 and 2100 (but not including 1900 or 2100). In effect, only the first rule for leap-years is at work during this span of years since in the year 2000 both the second and third rules apply which means they cancel each other out.
- Starting with every day having 24 hours/day * 60 minutes/hour * 60 seconds/minute = 86,400 seconds/day.
If we divide the time_t ten digit quantity we are interested in (1,000,000,000 seconds) by the number of seconds in a day, we can find out how many days into the UNIX Epoch time_t will hit ten digits. The calculation is as follows:
- 1,000,000,000 seconds / 86,400 seconds/day = 11,574.074074 days
So we now know that it will be 31 years (with 8 of them being leap years).
This accounts for 11,323 days (31 years * 365 days/year + 8 days) out of the 11,574.074074 days.
So it will be 11,574.074074 - 11,323 = 251.074074 days into the 31st year when time_t reaches 10 digits.
Converting the .074074 days to hours, minutes, and seconds is as follows:
- .074074days * 24 hours/day = 1.7777777778 hours
.77777778hours * 60 minutes/hour = 46.666666667 minutes
.666666667minutes * 60 seconds/minute = 40 seconds
So 31 years 251 days 1 hour 46 minutes and 40 seconds into the UNIX Epoch, time_t will go to 10 digits.
31 years after 00:00:00 January 1, 1970 UTC is 2001.
251 days into the year is the 9th of September for non-leap years like 2001.
So time_t will become a 10 digit quantity on September 9th at 1:46:40 a.m. UTC.
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-- Anonymous, July 22, 2001