I've run into a few other timestamp implementations as well.
An embedded device manufacturer in the US produces a line of industrial controllers that I have worked with in the past. The use a custom timestamp that references the epoch 00:00:00 1 January, 1997 EDT. I was pretty blown away that they did not use UTC rather than a -4 GMT time zone.
However I was not shocked that they didn't reference an epoch that begins in 1970. As @tux0r
mentioned above, 32bit signed timestamps will overflow before too long. I think their choice of 1997 was a way to still use a signed 32 bit register and buy themselves a couple of decades :).
For further actions, you may consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse
We're a place where coders share, stay up-to-date and grow their careers.
I've run into a few other timestamp implementations as well.
An embedded device manufacturer in the US produces a line of industrial controllers that I have worked with in the past. The use a custom timestamp that references the epoch 00:00:00 1 January, 1997 EDT. I was pretty blown away that they did not use UTC rather than a -4 GMT time zone.
However I was not shocked that they didn't reference an epoch that begins in 1970. As @tux0r mentioned above, 32bit signed timestamps will overflow before too long. I think their choice of 1997 was a way to still use a signed 32 bit register and buy themselves a couple of decades :).