From: Daniel Schierbeck <daniel.schierbeck@...>
Date: 2005-11-14T02:42:15+09:00
Subject: Re: Converting between Time and DateTime

Lloyd Zusman wrote:
> Daniel Schierbeck <daniel.schierbeck@gmail.com> writes:
> 
>> Lloyd Zusman wrote:
>>> Daniel Schierbeck <daniel.schierbeck@gmail.com> writes:
>>>
>>>> [ ... ]
>>>>
>>>> I think this would be more Rubyish:
>>>>
>>>>   class DateTime
>>>>     def to_time
>>>>       Time.mktime(year, mon, day, hour, min, sec)
>>>>     end
>>>>   end
>>>>
>>>>   class Time
>>>>     def to_datetime
>>>>       DateTime.civil(year, mon, day, hour, min, sec)
>>>>     end
>>>>   end
>>>>
>>>> I haven't tested it, but it should work.
>>> Thanks.  Is this considered more ruby-ish because of the non-camel-case
>>> of the method names? ... or because of the to_* methods instead of the
>>> from* constructors? ... or both?
>>>
>> Both. It also allows you to do something like this:
>>
>>   def some_time_method(time)
>>     time = time.to_time  # now we know we have a Time object
>>   end
>>
>>   some_time_method(DateTime.new(...))
>>
>> That way you can use a DateTime object instead of a Time object and have 
>> it automatically converted. Otherwise, you'd have to do this:
>>
>>   some_time_method(Time.from_datetime(DateTime.new(...)))
> 
> Got it.  Thanks!
> 
> So now, all we need is to have a few to_* conversion methods added to
> the standard Time, DateTime, and Date classes so that we all don't have
> to keep re-inventing this. :)
> 
> 

Yeah, but only if there's a strong enough sentiment in the community. No 
reason to add to the standard library unless the functionality is really 
needed.


Cheers,
Daniel