Adam Kerr

Camp Counselor

Dating Advice for Developers

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Wednesday, July 31, 2024 - 3:30 PM UTC, for 1 hour.

Regular, 60 minute presentation

Room: African 80

Cloud
Craftsmanship
Full-stack
Api
Database

Datetime bugs are among the most common, most insidious, and unintentionally hilarious programming errors. Often, correct handling of dates is all that separates a great system from a bug-riddled disaster. Databases, APIs, browsers, and cloud platforms all handle time differently. Operating systems handle time differently. Cultures and languages represent the same date in completely different ways. Time is at once constant and unpredictable - did you know the Greenwich Observatory isn't always on Greenwich Mean Time? Worst of all, time is something users expect software to handle intuitively, despite there being no perfect answer. Understanding how all the components of a system handle dates is an unavoidable gateway on the path from novice to master. Write better software, and help your team write better software, by learning to think about dates from a 20-year industry veteran.

Take Aways

  • Understand time zones and offsets
  • Common date formats
  • What UTC stands for (hint: nothing!)
  • How to test against datetime bugs
  • Date handling in distributed systems
favorited by:
Abby Autry Tristan Dalgety Sam Patterson Tadd Eells Natalie Kay Will Boyer Edward Lichtman Rolando Lopez Elizabeth Groom Cody Lewis Dave Smith Adam Kerr Drew Douglas Rashmi Venugopal Matthew Ives Danger Casey Caleb Autry James McCollum Ryan Holmes Dan Willman Nick Heidke Kevin Curtis Justin Weyenberg Chris Lane Jones Michael Fazio Stephen Rimbakusumo Lizzie Siegle