workaround for common programming error involving ctime and localtime

Arthur David Olson ado
Wed May 11 19:35:52 UTC 1994


> ! 	/*
> ! 	** The following is equivalent to `return asctime(localtime(timep));',
> ! 	** except it does not modify localtime's static storage,
> ! 	** and thus it works around all-too-common bugs like
> ! 	** `struct tm *p = localtime(&t1); puts(ctime(&t2)); return p->tm_year'.
> ! 	*/

Hmmm...given the X3J11 description of ctime in section 4.12.3.2...
	The ctime funciton converts the calendar time pointed to by timer
	to local time in the form of a string.  It is equivalent to
		asctime(localtime(timer))
...do we open ourselves up to standard conformance challenges if ctime is
anything except "asctime(localtime(timer))"?

				--ado



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