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Jiff: Datetime library for Rust

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Re: Jiff: Datetime library for Rust

#3

Post by sushibowl »

Overall this looks nice, but I found myself stumbling over the ToSpan syntax:

    let span = 5.days().hours(8).minutes(1);
It feels sort of weird how the first number appears in front, and then all the other ones are function arguments. I suppose if you don't like that you can just write:

    let span = Span::new().days(5).hours(8).minutes(1);
at the expense of a couple characters, which is not too bad.

Re: Jiff: Datetime library for Rust

#4

Post by Galanwe »

sushibowl wrote: post #3

Overall this looks nice, but I found myself stumbling over the ToSpan syntax: let span = 5.days().hours(8).minutes(1); It feels sort of weird how the first number appears in front, and then all the other ones are function arguments. I suppose if you don't like that you can just write: let span = Span::new().days(5).hours(8).minutes(1); at the expense of a couple characters, which is not too bad.

If only Rust had named function parameters, you could write what is IMHO the most readable option:

    Span::new(days=5, hours=8, minutes=1)

Re: Jiff: Datetime library for Rust

#5

Post by tomas789 »

sushibowl wrote: post #3

Overall this looks nice, but I found myself stumbling over the ToSpan syntax: let span = 5.days().hours(8).minutes(1); It feels sort of weird how the first number appears in front, and then all the other ones are function arguments. I suppose if you don't like that you can just write: let span = Span::new().days(5).hours(8).minutes(1); at the expense of a couple characters, which is not too bad.

I agree with that. In my thought process is to specify what I’m doing and only then some details. This is the other way around. When reading the code, it would be better to see that I’m dealing with span at first.

Re: Jiff: Datetime library for Rust

#7

Post by DemocracyFTW2 »

sushibowl wrote: post #3

Overall this looks nice, but I found myself stumbling over the ToSpan syntax: let span = 5.days().hours(8).minutes(1); It feels sort of weird how the first number appears in front, and then all the other ones are function arguments. I suppose if you don't like that you can just write: let span = Span::new().days(5).hours(8).minutes(1); at the expense of a couple characters, which is not too bad.

I stumbled over

    use jiff::{Timestamp, ToSpan};

    fn main() -> Result {
        let time: Timestamp = "2024-07-11T01:14:00Z".parse()?;
I seem to remember Rust does that thing with interfaces instead of classes, is it that? How come I import a library and all of a sudden strings have a `parse()` method that despite its generic name results in a `Timestamp` object? or is it the left-hand side that determines which meaning `str.parse()` should have? What if I have two libraries, one for dates and one for say, Lisp expressions that both augment strings with a `parse()` method? Why use this syntax at all, why not, say, `Timestamp.parse( str )`? I have so many questions.

Re: Jiff: Datetime library for Rust

#8

Post by frereit »

sushibowl wrote: post #3

Overall this looks nice, but I found myself stumbling over the ToSpan syntax: let span = 5.days().hours(8).minutes(1); It feels sort of weird how the first number appears in front, and then all the other ones are function arguments. I suppose if you don't like that you can just write: let span = Span::new().days(5).hours(8).minutes(1); at the expense of a couple characters, which is not too bad.

I agree. Personally, I'd prefer

    let span = 5.days() + 8.hours() + 1.minutes();

Re: Jiff: Datetime library for Rust

#9

Post by DemocracyFTW2 »

Galanwe wrote: post #4
sushibowl wrote: post #3

Overall this looks nice, but I found myself stumbling over the ToSpan syntax: let span = 5.days().hours(8).minutes(1); It feels sort of weird how the first number appears in front, and then all the other ones are function arguments. I suppose if you don't like that you can just write: let span = Span::new().days(5).hours(8).minutes(1); at the expense of a couple characters, which is not too bad.

If only Rust had named function parameters, you could write what is IMHO the most readable option: Span::new(days=5, hours=8, minutes=1)

could you do that with `struct` / `record` fields? In JavaScript which doesn't have named function parameters either I often write functions with a single `cfg` parameter that are called like `f({ hours: 2, seconds: 53, })` which I find nice b/c it re-uses existing data structures.

Re: Jiff: Datetime library for Rust

#10

Post by tomas789 »

The state of calendar libraries in Rust is less than ideal. When working with Pandas, there is .tz_convert() and .tz_localize() and that is basically it for timezone conversions. My benchmark for this is: given a date, get first hour of CET/CEST day in UTC. In Pandas a very simple operation. In Chrono, you have to have a NaiveDate, convert to DateTime and then to DateTime. And there is no pattern in those conversions I managed to find. Sometimes it is a member function, other times a static method on the timezone object.

I hope somebody will rectify this at some point. Jiff seems like a step in a right direction but the syntax is sometimes weird. I guess I’d wellcome something more predictable

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