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bpo-29026: Minor improvements for time.time doc
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appeltel committed Feb 14, 2017
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28 changes: 17 additions & 11 deletions Doc/library/time.rst
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Expand Up @@ -17,18 +17,23 @@ semantics of these functions varies among platforms.

An explanation of some terminology and conventions is in order.

.. _epoch:

.. index:: single: epoch

* The :dfn:`epoch` is the point where the time starts, and is platform
dependent. For Unix, the epoch is January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 (UTC).
To find out what the epoch is on a given platform, look at ``gmtime(0)``.
To find out what the epoch is on a given platform, look at
``time.gmtime(0)``.

.. _leap seconds: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_second

.. index:: seconds since the epoch

* The term :dfn:`seconds since the epoch` refers to the total number
of elapsed seconds since the epoch, typically excluding
`leap seconds <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_second>`_.
Leap seconds are excluded from this total on all POSIX-compliant platforms.
`leap seconds`_. Leap seconds are excluded from this total on all
POSIX-compliant platforms.

.. index:: single: Year 2038

Expand Down Expand Up @@ -579,27 +584,28 @@ The module defines the following functions and data items:

.. function:: time()

Return the time in seconds since the epoch as a floating point
Return the time in seconds since the epoch_ as a floating point
number. The specific date of the epoch and the handling of
`leap seconds <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_second>`_
is platform dependent.
`leap seconds`_ is platform dependent.
On Windows and most Unix systems, the epoch is January 1, 1970,
00:00:00 (UTC) and leap seconds are not counted towards the time
in seconds since the epoch. This is commonly referred to as
`Unix time <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_time>`_.
To find out what the epoch is on a given platform, look at
``time.gmtime(0)``.

Note that even though the time is always returned as a floating point
number, not all systems provide time with a better precision than 1 second.
While this function normally returns non-decreasing values, it can return a
lower value than a previous call if the system clock has been set back
between the two calls.

The number returned by :func:`time` may be converted into a more common
The number returned by :func:`time.time` may be converted into a more common
time format (i.e. year, month, day, hour, etc...) in UTC by passing it to
:func:`gmtime` function or in local time by passing it to the
:func:`localtime` function. In both cases a :class:`struct_time` object
is returned, from which the components of the calendar date may be accessed
as attributes.
:func:`time.gmtime` function or in local time by passing it to the
:func:`time.localtime` function. In both cases a
:class:`time.struct_time` object is returned, from which the components
of the calendar date may be accessed as attributes.

.. data:: timezone

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