So what is this time thing anyway?

Sat September 05, 02:40 PM–02:55 PM • Back to program
Start time 14:40
End time 14:55
Countdown link Open timer

How well do you think you understand time? All kinds of things in our lives rely on having at least a basic understanding of how "time" works. But sometimes you need more than just a basic understanding... so come with me on a brief tour of time.

This is a whirlwind tour of modern timekeeping. From the weird and wonderful timekeeping of astronomers, to what goes into the normal civil time you read on your watch. With fun stops through calendaring, atomic clocks, GPS, space probes, and more along the way! As programmers, we work with dates and times on a regular basis and while most of us will never come across a TAI timestamp, or convert from UTC to TCB, there is a rich history behind our modern timekeeping with all its wonderful acronyms. Regardless of your level of skill or familiarity with timekeeping, I hope you can get something out of this introduction to timekeeping, illustrated with Python where applicable.

Samuel Bishop

Australian software developer and amateur rocket scientist. They enjoy cats, working on their personal software and hardware projects, designing large rockets on paper, launching small rockets in real life, everything space, playing games of all kinds, and tinkering with their 3D Printer.