Unix epoch
The Unix epoch is the reference instant at 00:00:00 UTC on January 1, 1970, from which Unix time is measured.
Rust in Action: Systems programming concepts and techniques
An epoch is the defined reference point from which elapsed time is measured.
- How it is used
- Uses the Unix epoch as the reference for numeric timestamps in a practical clock application.
- How deep it goes
- Defines the reference date and explains counters, integer fields, and representation trade-offs without prescribing one universal encoding.
- Examples
- Uses Raspberry Pi startup and chrono timestamp-formatting code as concrete examples.
- What you can do after
- Apply it via chrono to print a Unix timestamp and distinguish it from formatted date strings.
Read how Rust in Action: Systems programming concepts and techniques explains Unix epoch →
Learn Rust in a Month of Lunches
- How it is used
- Uses the epoch to express current system time as elapsed duration from a shared reference instant.
- How deep it goes
- Defines the epoch and demonstrates Rust’s duration calculation, while deferring date formatting beyond the standard library.
- Examples
- Demonstrates SystemTime::now().duration_since(UNIX_EPOCH) and prints the resulting duration.
- What you can do after
- Apply it via Rust’s standard library to calculate elapsed time since January 1, 1970.
Read how Learn Rust in a Month of Lunches explains Unix epoch →
Related concepts
- TimeWindowsused by · TimeWindows is a Kafka Streams class that defines fixed-size time-based windows with a configurable advance interval.
- clockused by · A computer clock is a timekeeping source or interface that provides time values or measurements to software.
- timestampused by · A timestamp is a value representing a specific point in time, typically associated with an event, observation, or data item.
- unix timestamp functionused by · A Unix timestamp function converts a date or timestamp into a numeric value representing time relative to the Unix epoch.
- time_tmeasured by · time_t is an implementation-defined C arithmetic type used to represent calendar time or elapsed-time values.
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