‹ BackHN Continuity

Thread

Footguns with Postgres “at time zone 'UTC'”

169 points · 114 comments · birdculture

  1. beybol · · focus · HN ↗
    I don't rely on time calculations at the database level. I handle them in the application based on UTC time stored in the database and the user's time zone. This shifts the problem to the application code, where I can control it precisely and make conscious decisions about how to handle specific business requirements, such as when a day ends or how to deal with events across different time zones. It also makes it possible to properly test all cases with unit tests.
    1. allknowingfrog · · focus · HN ↗
      Ruby on Rails would agree with you. I've been working in web development for a decade now, across a couple of languages and frameworks, and I've only ever stored UTC. I currently work a lot with time-series data, and I'd rather not know what hack makes it possible to track events that occur during a DST transition.
Open on Hacker News to reply ↗

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.