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The Problem with Time & Timezones - Computerphile

Computerphile · explainer · Watch on YouTube

Software (other)Python, Ruby & scripting languages

What it is

Tom Scott explains for Computerphile why handling time and timezones in code is so hard, walking through a simple web app that computes how long ago something happened. It covers the quirks of timezones and calendars and ends in an exasperated rant.

Why Hacker News recommends it

It is the go-to funny, accessible explanation of why you should never implement datetime handling yourself, linked in nearly every timezone thread.

  • 12 people recommended it
  • 12 different months
  • 2 strong recommendations
  • first 2014, last 2026

What HN commenters said

  1. “A brilliant video by Tom Scott for Computerphile”

    Tom Scott explains what coding timezones correctly is like, ending in a rant

    tehmaco, 2015-01 · Strong recommendation · in “A positive leap second will be introduced at the end of June 2015”

  2. “a must watch for developers just starting out with Timezones”

    Must-watch for developers starting out with timezones

    yboris, 2021-02 · Strong recommendation · in “Timezone Bullshit”

  3. “An excellent video touching on some of the intractable aspects of our datetime-marking system's personality quirks”

    Explains the quirks of datetime systems

    sk5t, 2014-12 · Recommendation · in “The Death and Life of the 13-Month Calendar”

  4. “There is a great (humorous) Computerphile video about this topic”

    Humorous take on the problem of time and timezones

    myfonj, 2015-03 · Recommendation · in “How to save datetimes for future events”

  5. “Computerphile did an excellent overview of time zones and all their complexities in the context of programming”

    Overview of time zone complexity including regions that skipped a day

    zeta0134, 2016-07 · Recommendation · in “Time Zones Aren’t Offsets – Offsets Aren’t Time Zones”

  6. “Computerphile / Tom Scott did an excellent video doing that”

    Explains to laypeople how hard time handling is

    wtfishackernews, 2016-11 · Recommendation · in “Time to Dump Time Zones”

  7. “Same topic, equally entertaining (not AS geeky though).”

    Entertaining, less geeky take on same time topic

    psteinweber, 2018-05 · Recommendation · in “UTC Is Enough for Everyone, Right?”

  8. “Tom Scott has a pretty good video explaining exactly why writing code about time is not trivial”

    Explains why writing code about time is not trivial

    enhdless, 2019-10 · Recommendation · in “US Constitution – A Git repo with history of edits”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: timezones, datetime, tom scott, computerphile, programming pitfalls

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