Unix Timestamp Guide: Everything Developers Need to Know About Epoch Time
Understand Unix timestamps: epoch origin, 32-bit overflow, milliseconds vs seconds, and converting between timestamps and human-readable dates.
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Tags: developer-tools, timestamps, unix
Unix Timestamp Guide: Everything Developers Need to Know About Epoch Time Unix timestamps are the backbone of date/time handling in software. They appear in API responses, database records, log files, and JWT tokens. If you write code, you will deal with them daily. This guide covers everything — what they are, the units trap that bites everyone, the Y2K38 problem, and how to convert them in every major language. Seconds vs. Milliseconds — The Trap That Catches Everyone The most common Unix timestamp bug is confusing seconds with milliseconds. | Platform | Unit | Example | |---|---|---| | C / POSIX | seconds | | | JavaScript | milliseconds | | | Python | seconds (float) | | | Java | milliseconds | | | Go | seconds | | | Go | milliseconds | | | PostgreSQL | seconds (float) | | The…
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