Package: python-egenix-mxdatetime (3.1.0-1)

date and time handling routines for Python

mxDateTime is a Python extension package that provides three new objects, DateTime, DateTimeDelta and RelativeDateTime, which let you store and handle date/time values in a much more natural way than by using ticks (seconds since 1.1.1970 0:00 UTC), the representation used by Python's time module).

You can add, subtract and even multiply instances, pickle and copy them and convert the results to strings, COM dates, ticks and some other more esoteric values. In addition, there are several convenient constructors and formatters at hand to greatly simplify dealing with dates and times in real-world applications.

In addition to providing an easy-to-use Python interface the package also exports a comfortable C API interface for other extensions to build upon. This is especially interesting for database applications which often have to deal with date/time values (the mxODBC package is one example of an extension using this interface).

mxDateTime can convert between various different date/time storage formats, including COM dates, TJD, MJD, JDN, tuples and, probably most important, strings.

The date/time parser included in mxDateTime is one of the most flexible such parser available for Python. It is constantly being improved to make parsing date/time strings as easy as possible. At the same time, it offers a fully customizable interface which allows selecting valid date/time formats from a range of predefined categories.

There are also special parser and formatter modules for ARPA and ISO date/time formats, which are handy if you work a lot with Internet standards.

Tags: Software Development: Python Development, Libraries, Implemented in: Python, Role: Shared Library, Purpose: Time and Clock