Epoch (reference date)
Encyclopedia
In the fields of chronology
and periodization
, an epoch is an instance in time chosen as the origin of a particular era
. The "epoch" then serves as a reference point from which time is measured. Time measurement units are counted from the epoch so that the date and time of events can be specified unambiguously.
Events taking place before the epoch can be dated by counting negatively from the epoch, though in pragmatic periodization
practice, epochs are defined for the past, and another epoch is used to start the next era, therefore serving as the ending of the older preceding era. The whole purpose and criteria of such definitions is to clarify and co-ordinate scholarship about a period, at times, across disciplines.
Epochs are generally chosen to be convenient or significant by a consensus of the time scale's initial users, or by authoritarian fiat. The epoch moment or date is usually defined by a specific clear event, condition, or criteria— the epoch event or epoch criteria —from which the period or era or age is usually characterized or described.
Examples:
starts from an arbitrary epoch, which is often chosen to commemorate an important historical or mythological event. For example, the epoch of the anno Domini
calendar era (the civil calendar era used internationally and in many countries) is the traditionally-reckoned Incarnation
of Jesus
. Many other current and historical calendar eras exist, each with its own epoch.
or orbital elements
are specified, and from which other orbital parametrics are thereafter calculated in order to predict future position. The applied tools of the mathematics disciplines of Celestial mechanics
or its subfield Orbital mechanics (both predict orbital paths and positions) about a center of gravity
are used to generate an ephemeris
(plural: ephemerides; from the Greek word ephemeros = daily) which is a table of values that gives the positions of astronomical objects in the sky at a given time or times, or a formula to calculate such given the proper time offset from the epoch. Such calculations generally result in an elliptical path on a plane defined by some point on the orbit, and the two foci of the ellipse
. Viewing from another orbiting body, following its own trace and orbit, creates shifts in three dimensions in the spherical trigonometry used to calculate relative positions. Interestingly, these dynamics in three dimensions are also elliptical, which means the ephemeris need only specify one set of equations to be a useful predictive tool to predict future location of the object of interest.
Over time, inexactitudes and other errors accumulate, creating more and greater errors of prediction, so ephemeris factors need to be recalculated from time to time, and that requires a new epoch to be defined. Different astronomers or groups of astronomers used to define epochs to suit themselves, but these days of speedy communications, the epochs are generally defined in an international agreement, so astronomers world wide can collaborate more effectively. It was inefficient and error prone for data observed by one group to need translation (mathematic transformation) so other groups could compare information.
, Greenwich
, in London
England
). This is equivalent to:
When dates or times are expressed as years with a decimal fraction from J2000, the years are of exactly 365.25 days, which is the average length of a year in the Julian calendar
.
The time kept internally by a computer
system is usually expressed as the number of time units that have elapsed since a specified epoch, which is nearly always specified as midnight Universal Time
on some particular date.
Software timekeeping systems vary widely in the granularity of their time units; some systems may use time units as large as a day, while others may use nanosecond
s. For example, for an epoch date of midnight UTC on January 1, 1900, and a time unit of a second, the time of the midnight between January 1 and 2, 1900 is represented by the number 86400, the number of seconds in one day. When times prior to the epoch need to be represented, it is common to use the same system, but with negative numbers.
These representations of time are mainly for internal use. If an end user interaction with dates and times is required, the software will nearly always convert this internal number into a date and time representation that is comprehensible to humans.
s, and problems can occur. While a system's behavior after overflow occurs is not necessarily predictable, in most systems the number representing the time will reset to zero, and the computer system will think that the current time is the epoch time again.
Most famously, older systems which counted time as the number of years elapsed since the epoch of January 1, 1900 and which only allotted enough space to store the numbers 0 through 99, experienced the Year 2000 problem
. These systems (if not corrected beforehand) would interpret the date January 1, 2000 as January 1, 1900, leading to unpredictable errors at the beginning of the year 2000.
Even systems which allocate more storage to the time representation are not immune from this kind of error. Many Unix-like
operating system
s which keep time as seconds elapsed from the epoch date of January 1, 1970, and allot timekeeping enough storage to store numbers as large as will experience an overflow problem on January 19, 2038 if not fixed beforehand. This is known as the Year 2038 problem
. A correction involving doubling the storage allocated to timekeeping on these systems will allow them to represent dates more than 290 billion years into the future.
Other more subtle timekeeping problems exist in computing, such as accounting for leap second
s, which are not observed with any predictability or regularity. Additionally, applications which need to represent historical dates and times (for example, representing a date prior to the switch from the Julian calendar
to the Gregorian calendar
) must use specialized timekeeping libraries.
Finally, some software must maintain compatibility with older software that does not keep time in strict accordance with traditional timekeeping systems. For example, Microsoft Excel
observes the fictional date of February 29, 1900 in order to maintain compatibility with older versions of Lotus 1-2-3
. Lotus 1-2-3 observed the date due to an error; by the time the error was discovered, it was too late to fix it—"a change now would disrupt formulas which were written to accommodate this anomaly".
Chronology
Chronology is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time, such as the use of a timeline or sequence of events. It is also "the determination of the actual temporal sequence of past events".Chronology is part of periodization...
and periodization
Periodization
Periodization is the attempt to categorize or divide time into named blocks. The result is a descriptive abstraction that provides a useful handle on periods of time with relatively stable characteristics...
, an epoch is an instance in time chosen as the origin of a particular era
Calendar era
A calendar era is the year numbering system used by a calendar. For example, the Gregorian calendar numbers its years in the Western Christian era . The instant, date, or year from which time is marked is called the epoch of the era...
. The "epoch" then serves as a reference point from which time is measured. Time measurement units are counted from the epoch so that the date and time of events can be specified unambiguously.
Events taking place before the epoch can be dated by counting negatively from the epoch, though in pragmatic periodization
Periodization
Periodization is the attempt to categorize or divide time into named blocks. The result is a descriptive abstraction that provides a useful handle on periods of time with relatively stable characteristics...
practice, epochs are defined for the past, and another epoch is used to start the next era, therefore serving as the ending of the older preceding era. The whole purpose and criteria of such definitions is to clarify and co-ordinate scholarship about a period, at times, across disciplines.
Epochs are generally chosen to be convenient or significant by a consensus of the time scale's initial users, or by authoritarian fiat. The epoch moment or date is usually defined by a specific clear event, condition, or criteria— the epoch event or epoch criteria —from which the period or era or age is usually characterized or described.
Examples:
- by events:
- The assassination of the Roman EmperorRoman EmperorThe Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...
Alexander SeverusAlexander SeverusSeverus Alexander was Roman Emperor from 222 to 235. Alexander was the last emperor of the Severan dynasty. He succeeded his cousin Elagabalus upon the latter's assassination in 222, and was ultimately assassinated himself, marking the epoch event for the Crisis of the Third Century — nearly fifty...
triggering the Crisis of the Third CenturyCrisis of the Third CenturyThe Crisis of the Third Century was a period in which the Roman Empire nearly collapsed under the combined pressures of invasion, civil war, plague, and economic depression... - The defenestration of PragueDefenestrations of PragueThe Defenestrations of Prague were two incidents in the history of Bohemia. The first occurred in 1419 and the second in 1618, although the term "Defenestration of Prague" more commonly refers to the latter incident. Both helped to trigger prolonged conflict within Bohemia and beyond...
triggering the Thirty Years' WarThirty Years' WarThe Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history.... - Queen Victoria ascending to the throne giving the start of the Victorian eraVictorian eraThe Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
- The assassination of the Roman Emperor
- by criteria:
- The spurt in exploration, mercantilism, and colonization in the Age of DiscoveryAge of DiscoveryThe Age of Discovery, also known as the Age of Exploration and the Great Navigations , was a period in history starting in the early 15th century and continuing into the early 17th century during which Europeans engaged in intensive exploration of the world, establishing direct contacts with...
- Particular ratios of animal fossils in a rock strata —various Geology epochs
- The spurt in exploration, mercantilism, and colonization in the Age of Discovery
Calendars
Each calendar eraCalendar era
A calendar era is the year numbering system used by a calendar. For example, the Gregorian calendar numbers its years in the Western Christian era . The instant, date, or year from which time is marked is called the epoch of the era...
starts from an arbitrary epoch, which is often chosen to commemorate an important historical or mythological event. For example, the epoch of the anno Domini
Anno Domini
and Before Christ are designations used to label or number years used with the Julian and Gregorian calendars....
calendar era (the civil calendar era used internationally and in many countries) is the traditionally-reckoned Incarnation
Incarnation (Christianity)
The Incarnation in traditional Christianity is the belief that Jesus Christ the second person of the Trinity, also known as God the Son or the Logos , "became flesh" by being conceived in the womb of a woman, the Virgin Mary, also known as the Theotokos .The Incarnation is a fundamental theological...
of Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
. Many other current and historical calendar eras exist, each with its own epoch.
Asian national eras
- The official Japanese systemJapanese era nameThe Japanese era calendar scheme is a common calendar scheme used in Japan, which identifies a year by the combination of the and the year number within the era...
numbers years from the accession of the current emperorEmperor of JapanThe Emperor of Japan is, according to the 1947 Constitution of Japan, "the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people." He is a ceremonial figurehead under a form of constitutional monarchy and is head of the Japanese Imperial Family with functions as head of state. He is also the highest...
, regarding the calendar year during which the accession occurred as the first year. - A similar systemChinese era nameA Chinese era name is the regnal year, reign period, or regnal title used when traditionally numbering years in an emperor's reign and naming certain Chinese rulers . Some emperors have several era names, one after another, where each beginning of a new era resets the numbering of the year back...
existed in ChinaChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
before 1912, being based on the accession year of the emperor (1911 was thus the fourth year of the Xuantong period). With the establishment of the Republic of ChinaRepublic of ChinaThe Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...
in 1912, the republican era was introduced. It is still very common in TaiwanTaiwanTaiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
to date events via the republican era. The People's Republic of China adopted the common era calendar in 1949 (the 38th year of the Chinese Republic). - In IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, the Indian national calendarIndian national calendarThe Indian national calendar is the official civil calendar in use in India. It is used, alongside the Gregorian calendar, by The Gazette of India, news broadcasts by All India Radio, and calendars and communications issued by the Government of India.The term may also ambiguously refer to the...
follows the Saka era - North KoreaNorth KoreaThe Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
uses a system that starts in 1912 (= JucheJucheJuche or Chuch'e is a Korean word usually translated as "self-reliance." In the Democratic People's Republic of Korea , "Juche" refers specifically to a political thesis of Kim Il-sung, the Juche Idea, that identifies the Korean masses as the masters of the country's development...
1), the year of the birth of their founder Kim Il-SungKim Il-sungKim Il-sung was a Korean communist politician who led the Democratic People's Republic of Korea from its founding in 1948 until his death in 1994. He held the posts of Prime Minister from 1948 to 1972 and President from 1972 to his death...
. The year 2011 is "Juche 100". Juche means "autarkyAutarkyAutarky is the quality of being self-sufficient. Usually the term is applied to political states or their economic policies. Autarky exists whenever an entity can survive or continue its activities without external assistance. Autarky is not necessarily economic. For example, a military autarky...
, self-reliance". - In ThailandThailandThailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
in 1888 King ChulalongkornChulalongkornPhra Bat Somdet Phra Poramintharamaha Chulalongkorn Phra Chunla Chom Klao Chao Yu Hua , or Rama V was the fifth monarch of Siam under the House of Chakri. He was known to the Siamese of his time as Phra Phuttha Chao Luang . He is considered one of the greatest kings of Siam...
decreed a National Thai Era dating from the founding of BangkokBangkokBangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
on April 6, 1782. In 1912, New Year's Day was shifted to April 1. In 1941, Prime Minister PhibunsongkhramPlaek PibulsonggramField Marshal Plaek Pibunsongkhram , often known as Phibun Songkhram or simply Phibun in English, was Prime Minister and virtual military dictator of Thailand from 1938 to 1944 and 1948 to 1957.- Early years :...
decided to count the years since 543 BC. This is the Thai solar calendarThai solar calendarThe Thai solar calendar, Suriyakati was adopted by King Chulalongkorn in AD 1888 as the Siamese version of the Gregorian calendar. It is the legal calendar in Thailand, though Thai lunar calendar dates continue in use. Years are now counted in the Buddhist Era that is 543 years greater than...
using the Thai Buddhist Era. Except for this era, it is the Gregorian calendar.
Religious eras
- In IsraelIsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, the traditional Hebrew calendarHebrew calendarThe Hebrew calendar , or Jewish calendar, is a lunisolar calendar used today predominantly for Jewish religious observances. It determines the dates for Jewish holidays and the appropriate public reading of Torah portions, yahrzeits , and daily Psalm reading, among many ceremonial uses...
, using an era dating from CreationAnno Mundi' , abbreviated as AM or A.M., refers to a Calendar era based on the Biblical creation of the world. Numerous efforts have been made to determine the Biblical date of Creation, yielding varying results. Besides differences in interpretation, which version of the Bible is being referenced also...
, is the official calendar. However, the Gregorian calendar is the de facto calendar and is commonly used. Government documents usually display a dual date. The beginning of year 1 of the Hebrew calendar occurred in the autumn of 3761 BC. Therefore, "Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, in September 2003 marked the transition from 5763 to 5764". - In the IslamIslamIslam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic world, traditional Islamic datingIslamic calendarThe Hijri calendar , also known as the Muslim calendar or Islamic calendar , is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days. It is used to date events in many Muslim countries , and used by Muslims everywhere to determine the proper day on which to celebrate Islamic...
according to the Anno Hegiræ (in the year of the hijraHijra (Islam)The Hijra is the migration or journey of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE. Alternate spellings of this Arabic word are Hijrah, Hijrat or Hegira, the latter following the spelling rules of Latin.- Hijra of Muhammad :In September 622, warned of a plot to...
) or AH era remains in use to a varying extent, especially for religious purposes. The official Iranian calendarIranian calendarThe Iranian calendars or sometimes called Persian calendars are a succession of calendars invented or used for over two millennia in Greater Iran...
(used in AfghanistanAfghanistanAfghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
as well as IranIranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
) also dates from the hijra, but as it is a solar calendarSolar calendarA solar calendar is a calendar whose dates indicate the position of the earth on its revolution around the sun .-Tropical solar calendars:...
its year numbering does not coincide with the religious calendar. - In HinduismHinduismHinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
, all festival are according to the Hindu calendarHindu calendarThe hindu calendar used in ancient times has undergone many changes in the process of regionalization, and today there are several regional Indian calendars, as well as an Indian national calendar. Nepali calendar, Bengali calendar, Malayalam calendar, Tamil calendar, Telugu calendar, Kannada...
, based on the Vikram Samvat, which also functions as the national calendar of NepalNepalNepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
and BangladeshBangladeshBangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
.
Other
- In the French Republican CalendarFrench Republican CalendarThe French Republican Calendar or French Revolutionary Calendar was a calendar created and implemented during the French Revolution, and used by the French government for about 12 years from late 1793 to 1805, and for 18 days by the Paris Commune in 1871...
, a calendar used by the French government for about twelve years from late 1793, the epoch was the beginning of the "Republican Era", September 22, 1792 (the day the French First RepublicFrench First RepublicThe French First Republic was founded on 22 September 1792, by the newly established National Convention. The First Republic lasted until the declaration of the First French Empire in 1804 under Napoleon I...
was proclaimed, one day after the Convention abolished the monarchy). - In the scientific Before PresentBefore PresentBefore Present years is a time scale used in archaeology, geology, and other scientific disciplines to specify when events in the past occurred. Because the "present" time changes, standard practice is to use AD 1950 as the origin of the age scale, reflecting the fact that radiocarbon...
system of numbering years for purposes of radiocarbon datingRadiocarbon datingRadiocarbon dating is a radiometric dating method that uses the naturally occurring radioisotope carbon-14 to estimate the age of carbon-bearing materials up to about 58,000 to 62,000 years. Raw, i.e. uncalibrated, radiocarbon ages are usually reported in radiocarbon years "Before Present" ,...
, the reference date is January 1, 1950 (though the use of January 1 is quite irrelevant, as radiocarbon dating has limited precision). - Different branches of FreemasonryFreemasonryFreemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
have selected different years to date their documents according to a Masonic era, such as the Anno LucisAnno LucisAnno Lucis is a dating system used in Freemasonry that is similar to, but different from Anno Mundi.-Description:In their ceremonial or commemorative proceedings, Freemasons add 4,000 years to the current Anno Domini calendar year and append Anno Lucis to the Gregorian calendar year .This...
(A.L.).
Astronomy
In astronomy, an epoch is a specific moment in time for which celestial coordinatesCelestial coordinate system
In astronomy, a celestial coordinate system is a coordinate system for mapping positions on the celestial sphere.There are different celestial coordinate systems each using a system of spherical coordinates projected on the celestial sphere, in analogy to the geographic coordinate system used on...
or orbital elements
Orbital elements
Orbital elements are the parameters required to uniquely identify a specific orbit. In celestial mechanics these elements are generally considered in classical two-body systems, where a Kepler orbit is used...
are specified, and from which other orbital parametrics are thereafter calculated in order to predict future position. The applied tools of the mathematics disciplines of Celestial mechanics
Celestial mechanics
Celestial mechanics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the motions of celestial objects. The field applies principles of physics, historically classical mechanics, to astronomical objects such as stars and planets to produce ephemeris data. Orbital mechanics is a subfield which focuses on...
or its subfield Orbital mechanics (both predict orbital paths and positions) about a center of gravity
Center of gravity
In physics, a center of gravity of a material body is a point that may be used for a summary description of gravitational interactions. In a uniform gravitational field, the center of mass serves as the center of gravity...
are used to generate an ephemeris
Ephemeris
An ephemeris is a table of values that gives the positions of astronomical objects in the sky at a given time or times. Different kinds of ephemerides are used for astronomy and astrology...
(plural: ephemerides; from the Greek word ephemeros = daily) which is a table of values that gives the positions of astronomical objects in the sky at a given time or times, or a formula to calculate such given the proper time offset from the epoch. Such calculations generally result in an elliptical path on a plane defined by some point on the orbit, and the two foci of the ellipse
Ellipse
In geometry, an ellipse is a plane curve that results from the intersection of a cone by a plane in a way that produces a closed curve. Circles are special cases of ellipses, obtained when the cutting plane is orthogonal to the cone's axis...
. Viewing from another orbiting body, following its own trace and orbit, creates shifts in three dimensions in the spherical trigonometry used to calculate relative positions. Interestingly, these dynamics in three dimensions are also elliptical, which means the ephemeris need only specify one set of equations to be a useful predictive tool to predict future location of the object of interest.
Over time, inexactitudes and other errors accumulate, creating more and greater errors of prediction, so ephemeris factors need to be recalculated from time to time, and that requires a new epoch to be defined. Different astronomers or groups of astronomers used to define epochs to suit themselves, but these days of speedy communications, the epochs are generally defined in an international agreement, so astronomers world wide can collaborate more effectively. It was inefficient and error prone for data observed by one group to need translation (mathematic transformation) so other groups could compare information.
J2000.0
The current standard epoch is called "J2000.0" (and is approximately noon January 1, 2000, Gregorian calendar, at the Royal ObservatoryRoyal Observatory, Greenwich
The Royal Observatory, Greenwich , in London, England played a major role in the history of astronomy and navigation, and is best known as the location of the prime meridian...
, Greenwich
Greenwich
Greenwich is a district of south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich.Greenwich is best known for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time...
, in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
). This is equivalent to:
- The Julian date 2451545.0 TT (Terrestrial TimeTerrestrial TimeTerrestrial Time is a modern astronomical time standard defined by the International Astronomical Union, primarily for time-measurements of astronomical observations made from the surface of the Earth....
). - January 1, 2000, 11:59:27.816 TAI (International Atomic TimeInternational Atomic TimeInternational Atomic Time is a high-precision atomic coordinate time standard based on the notional passage of proper time on Earth's geoid...
). or - January 1, 2000, 11:58:55.816 UTC (Coordinated Universal TimeCoordinated Universal TimeCoordinated Universal Time is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. Computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC for that purpose...
).
When dates or times are expressed as years with a decimal fraction from J2000, the years are of exactly 365.25 days, which is the average length of a year in the Julian calendar
Julian calendar
The Julian calendar began in 45 BC as a reform of the Roman calendar by Julius Caesar. It was chosen after consultation with the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria and was probably designed to approximate the tropical year .The Julian calendar has a regular year of 365 days divided into 12 months...
.
Computing
The time kept internally by a computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
system is usually expressed as the number of time units that have elapsed since a specified epoch, which is nearly always specified as midnight Universal Time
Universal Time
Universal Time is a time scale based on the rotation of the Earth. It is a modern continuation of Greenwich Mean Time , i.e., the mean solar time on the Prime Meridian at Greenwich, and GMT is sometimes used loosely as a synonym for UTC...
on some particular date.
Software timekeeping systems vary widely in the granularity of their time units; some systems may use time units as large as a day, while others may use nanosecond
Nanosecond
A nanosecond is one billionth of a second . One nanosecond is to one second as one second is to 31.7 years.The word nanosecond is formed by the prefix nano and the unit second. Its symbol is ns....
s. For example, for an epoch date of midnight UTC on January 1, 1900, and a time unit of a second, the time of the midnight between January 1 and 2, 1900 is represented by the number 86400, the number of seconds in one day. When times prior to the epoch need to be represented, it is common to use the same system, but with negative numbers.
These representations of time are mainly for internal use. If an end user interaction with dates and times is required, the software will nearly always convert this internal number into a date and time representation that is comprehensible to humans.
Notable epoch dates in computing
The following table lists epoch dates used by popular software and other computer-related systems. The time in these systems is stored as the quantity of a particular time unit (days, seconds, nanoseconds, etc.) that has elapsed since a stated time (usually midnight UTC at the beginning of the given date).| Epoch date | Notable uses | Rationale for selection |
|---|---|---|
| January 1, 0 Year zero "Year zero" does not exist in the widely used Gregorian calendar or in its predecessor, the Julian calendar. Under those systems, the year 1 BC is followed by AD 1... |
MATLAB MATLAB MATLAB is a numerical computing environment and fourth-generation programming language. Developed by MathWorks, MATLAB allows matrix manipulations, plotting of functions and data, implementation of algorithms, creation of user interfaces, and interfacing with programs written in other languages,... , Symbian Symbian Symbian is a mobile operating system and computing platform designed for smartphones and currently maintained by Accenture. The Symbian platform is the successor to Symbian OS and Nokia Series 60; unlike Symbian OS, which needed an additional user interface system, Symbian includes a user... , Turbo DB and tdbengine Tdbengine Tdbengine is a relational database management system with an integrated programming language. It is designed to handle databases on the web. It connects to the webserver using the standard cgi interface.... |
|
| January 1, 1 | Microsoft .NET, REXX REXX REXX is an interpreted programming language that was developed at IBM. It is a structured high-level programming language that was designed to be both easy to learn and easy to read... , Dershowitz and Reingold source code (where it is known as Rata Die Rata Die Rata Die is a system for assigning numbers to calendar days , independent of any calendar, for the purposes of calendrical calculations.... ) |
|
| January 1, 1601 | NTFS NTFS NTFS is the standard file system of Windows NT, including its later versions Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista, and Windows 7.... , COBOL COBOL COBOL is one of the oldest programming languages. Its name is an acronym for COmmon Business-Oriented Language, defining its primary domain in business, finance, and administrative systems for companies and governments.... , Win32/Win64 |
1601 was the first year of the 400-year Gregorian calendar Gregorian calendar The Gregorian calendar, also known as the Western calendar, or Christian calendar, is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582, a papal bull known by its opening words Inter... cycle at the time Windows NT was made. |
| January 1, 1753 | Microsoft SQL Server Microsoft SQL Server Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database server, developed by Microsoft: It is a software product whose primary function is to store and retrieve data as requested by other software applications, be it those on the same computer or those running on another computer across a network... |
First full year after the adoption of the Gregorian calendar by Britain and her Colonies. |
| December 31, 1840 | MUMPS MUMPS MUMPS , or alternatively M, is a programming language created in the late 1960s, originally for use in the healthcare industry. It was designed for the production of multi-user database-driven applications... programming language |
1841 was a non-leap year several years before the birth year of the oldest living US citizen when the language was designed. |
| November 17, 1858 | VMS OpenVMS OpenVMS , previously known as VAX-11/VMS, VAX/VMS or VMS, is a computer server operating system that runs on VAX, Alpha and Itanium-based families of computers. Contrary to what its name suggests, OpenVMS is not open source software; however, the source listings are available for purchase... , United States Naval Observatory United States Naval Observatory The United States Naval Observatory is one of the oldest scientific agencies in the United States, with a primary mission to produce Positioning, Navigation, and Timing for the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Department of Defense... , other astronomy Astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth... -related computations |
November 17, 1858 equals the Julian Day Julian day Julian day is used in the Julian date system of time measurement for scientific use by the astronomy community, presenting the interval of time in days and fractions of a day since January 1, 4713 BC Greenwich noon... 2,400,000. |
| December 30, 1899 | Microsoft COM DATE Microsoft Excel Microsoft Excel is a proprietary commercial spreadsheet application written and distributed by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. It features calculation, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming language called Visual Basic for Applications... , Object Pascal Object Pascal Object Pascal refers to a branch of object-oriented derivatives of Pascal, mostly known as the primary programming language of Embarcadero Delphi.-Early history at Apple:... |
Technical internal value used by Microsoft Excel; to simplify calculations by falsely assuming 1900 to be a leap year. |
| January 0, 1900 | Microsoft Excel Microsoft Excel Microsoft Excel is a proprietary commercial spreadsheet application written and distributed by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. It features calculation, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming language called Visual Basic for Applications... , Lotus 1-2-3 Lotus 1-2-3 Lotus 1-2-3 is a spreadsheet program from Lotus Software . It was the IBM PC's first "killer application"; its huge popularity in the mid-1980s contributed significantly to the success of the IBM PC in the corporate environment.-Beginnings:... |
While logically January 0, 1900 is equivalent to December 31, 1899, these systems do not allow users to specify the latter date. |
| January 1, 1900 | Network Time Protocol Network Time Protocol The Network Time Protocol is a protocol and software implementation for synchronizing the clocks of computer systems over packet-switched, variable-latency data networks. Originally designed by David L... , IBM IBM International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas... CICS CICS Customer Information Control System is a transaction server that runs primarily on IBM mainframe systems under z/OS and z/VSE.CICS is a transaction manager designed for rapid, high-volume online processing. This processing is mostly interactive , but background transactions are possible... , Mathematica Mathematica Mathematica is a computational software program used in scientific, engineering, and mathematical fields and other areas of technical computing... , RISC OS RISC OS RISC OS is a computer operating system originally developed by Acorn Computers Ltd in Cambridge, England for their range of desktop computers, based on their own ARM architecture. First released in 1987, under the name Arthur, the subsequent iteration was renamed as in 1988... , Common Lisp Common Lisp Common Lisp, commonly abbreviated CL, is a dialect of the Lisp programming language, published in ANSI standard document ANSI INCITS 226-1994 , . From the ANSI Common Lisp standard the Common Lisp HyperSpec has been derived for use with web browsers... |
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| January 1, 1904 | LabVIEW LabVIEW LabVIEW is a system design platform and development environment for a visual programming language from National Instruments. LabVIEW provides engineers and scientists with the tools needed to create and deploy measurement and control systems.The graphical language is named "G"... , Apple Inc.'s Mac OS Mac OS Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface... through version 9, Palm OS Palm OS Palm OS is a mobile operating system initially developed by Palm, Inc., for personal digital assistants in 1996. Palm OS is designed for ease of use with a touchscreen-based graphical user interface. It is provided with a suite of basic applications for personal information management... , MP4, Microsoft Excel (optionally), IGOR Pro IGOR Pro IGOR Pro is a scientific data analysis software, numerical computing environment and programming language that runs on Windows or Mac operating systems. It is developed by WaveMetrics Inc., and was originally aimed at time series analysis, but has since then evolved and covers other applications... |
1904 is the first leap year of the twentieth century. |
| January 1, 1950 | SEGA Dreamcast | |
| January 1, 1960 | S-Plus S-PLUS S-PLUS is a commercial implementation of the S programming language sold by TIBCO Software Inc..It features object-oriented programming capabilities and advanced analytical algorithms.-Historical timeline:... , SAS SAS System SAS is an integrated system of software products provided by SAS Institute Inc. that enables programmers to perform:* retrieval, management, and mining* report writing and graphics* statistical analysis... |
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| December 31, 1967 | Pick OS Pick operating system The Pick operating system is a demand-paged, multiuser, virtual memory, time-sharing operating system based around a unique "multivalued" database. Pick is used primarily for business data processing... |
Chosen so that remainder 7 would produce 0=Sunday, 1=Monday, 2=Tuesday, 3=Wednesday, 4=Thursday, 5=Friday, and 6=Saturday. |
| January 1, 1970 | Unix time Unix time Unix time, or POSIX time, is a system for describing instants in time, defined as the number of seconds elapsed since midnight Coordinated Universal Time of Thursday, January 1, 1970 , not counting leap seconds, which are declared by the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service... , used by Unix Unix Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna... and Unix-like Unix-like A Unix-like operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification.... systems (Linux Linux Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds... , Mac OS X Mac OS X Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems... ), and programming language Programming language A programming language is an artificial language designed to communicate instructions to a machine, particularly a computer. Programming languages can be used to create programs that control the behavior of a machine and/or to express algorithms precisely.... s: C C (programming language) C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system.... , Java Java (programming language) Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities... , JavaScript JavaScript JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles.... , Perl Perl Perl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Perl was originally developed by Larry Wall in 1987 as a general-purpose Unix scripting language to make report processing easier. Since then, it has undergone many changes and revisions and become widely popular... , PHP PHP PHP is a general-purpose server-side scripting language originally designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. For this purpose, PHP code is embedded into the HTML source document and interpreted by a web server with a PHP processor module, which generates the web page document... , Python Python (programming language) Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language whose design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python claims to "[combine] remarkable power with very clear syntax", and its standard library is large and comprehensive... . Also used by Precision Time Protocol Precision Time Protocol The Precision Time Protocol is a protocol used to synchronize clocks throughout a computer network. On a local area network it achieves clock accuracy in the sub-microsecond range, making it suitable for measurement and control systems.... . |
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| January 1, 1978 | AmigaOS AmigaOS AmigaOS is the default native operating system of the Amiga personal computer. It was developed first by Commodore International, and initially introduced in 1985 with the Amiga 1000... |
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| January 1, 1980 | DOS DOS DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related... , OS/2 OS/2 OS/2 is a computer operating system, initially created by Microsoft and IBM, then later developed by IBM exclusively. The name stands for "Operating System/2," because it was introduced as part of the same generation change release as IBM's "Personal System/2 " line of second-generation personal... , FAT16 and FAT32 filesystems, VOS Stratus VOS VOS is a proprietary operating system running on Stratus Technologies fault-tolerant computer systems. VOS is available on Stratus's ftServer and Continuum platforms... |
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| January 6, 1980 | Qualcomm Qualcomm Qualcomm is an American global telecommunication corporation that designs, manufactures and markets digital wireless telecommunications products and services based on its code division multiple access technology and other technologies. Headquartered in San Diego, CA, USA... BREW Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless Brew is an application development platform created by Qualcomm, originally for CDMA mobile phones, featuring third party applications such as mobile games. It is offered in some feature phones but not in smart phones... , GPS Global Positioning System The Global Positioning System is a space-based global navigation satellite system that provides location and time information in all weather, anywhere on or near the Earth, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites... |
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| January 1, 1981 | Acorn NetFS | |
| January 1, 2000 | AppleSingle, AppleDouble | |
| ? ?, 2000 | FATX filesystem | |
| January 1, 2001 | Apple's Cocoa Cocoa (API) Cocoa is Apple's native object-oriented application programming interface for the Mac OS X operating system and—along with the Cocoa Touch extension for gesture recognition and animation—for applications for the iOS operating system, used on Apple devices such as the iPhone, the iPod Touch, and... framework |
2001 is the year of the release of Mac OS X 10.0. |
Problems with epoch-based computer time representation
Computers don't generally store arbitrarily large numbers. Instead, each number stored by a computer is allotted a fixed amount of space. Therefore, when the number of time units that have elapsed since a system's epoch exceeds the largest number that can fit in the space allotted to the time representation, the time representation overflowArithmetic overflow
The term arithmetic overflow or simply overflow has the following meanings.# In a computer, the condition that occurs when a calculation produces a result that is greater in magnitude than that which a given register or storage location can store or represent.# In a computer, the amount by which a...
s, and problems can occur. While a system's behavior after overflow occurs is not necessarily predictable, in most systems the number representing the time will reset to zero, and the computer system will think that the current time is the epoch time again.
Most famously, older systems which counted time as the number of years elapsed since the epoch of January 1, 1900 and which only allotted enough space to store the numbers 0 through 99, experienced the Year 2000 problem
Year 2000 problem
The Year 2000 problem was a problem for both digital and non-digital documentation and data storage situations which resulted from the practice of abbreviating a four-digit year to two digits.In computer programs, the practice of representing the year with two...
. These systems (if not corrected beforehand) would interpret the date January 1, 2000 as January 1, 1900, leading to unpredictable errors at the beginning of the year 2000.
Even systems which allocate more storage to the time representation are not immune from this kind of error. Many Unix-like
Unix-like
A Unix-like operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification....
operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
s which keep time as seconds elapsed from the epoch date of January 1, 1970, and allot timekeeping enough storage to store numbers as large as will experience an overflow problem on January 19, 2038 if not fixed beforehand. This is known as the Year 2038 problem
Year 2038 problem
The year 2038 problem may cause some computer software to fail at some point near the year 2038...
. A correction involving doubling the storage allocated to timekeeping on these systems will allow them to represent dates more than 290 billion years into the future.
Other more subtle timekeeping problems exist in computing, such as accounting for leap second
Leap second
A leap second is a positive or negative one-second adjustment to the Coordinated Universal Time time scale that keeps it close to mean solar time. UTC, which is used as the basis for official time-of-day radio broadcasts for civil time, is maintained using extremely precise atomic clocks...
s, which are not observed with any predictability or regularity. Additionally, applications which need to represent historical dates and times (for example, representing a date prior to the switch from the Julian calendar
Julian calendar
The Julian calendar began in 45 BC as a reform of the Roman calendar by Julius Caesar. It was chosen after consultation with the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria and was probably designed to approximate the tropical year .The Julian calendar has a regular year of 365 days divided into 12 months...
to the Gregorian calendar
Gregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar, also known as the Western calendar, or Christian calendar, is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582, a papal bull known by its opening words Inter...
) must use specialized timekeeping libraries.
Finally, some software must maintain compatibility with older software that does not keep time in strict accordance with traditional timekeeping systems. For example, Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel is a proprietary commercial spreadsheet application written and distributed by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. It features calculation, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming language called Visual Basic for Applications...
observes the fictional date of February 29, 1900 in order to maintain compatibility with older versions of Lotus 1-2-3
Lotus 1-2-3
Lotus 1-2-3 is a spreadsheet program from Lotus Software . It was the IBM PC's first "killer application"; its huge popularity in the mid-1980s contributed significantly to the success of the IBM PC in the corporate environment.-Beginnings:...
. Lotus 1-2-3 observed the date due to an error; by the time the error was discovered, it was too late to fix it—"a change now would disrupt formulas which were written to accommodate this anomaly".
External links
- Critical and Significant Dates (J. R. Stockton), an extensive list of dates that are problematic for various operating systems and computing devices
- Potential problem dates for computers (pdf) A list of potential problem dates for computers and software from 2001 to 2100 (IET).