json - What's the best way to store datetimes (timestamps) in CouchDB?

Question

I'm thinking that UTC time strings like 2011-01-26 21:41:09 +0000 might be okay since they sort correctly if they are used in a view key, but storing the time zone (e.g. 2011-01-26 16:41:09 -0500) would make the document more readable. Converting the date into an epoch integer seem the least appealing from a readability standpoint, but maybe best for performance (or does it make a difference?). What's the recommended practice here?

Answer 1

Time is a one-dimensional thing. A timestamp plus timezone is two-dimensional, describing a point in time, and a location. Couch views are one-dimensional (but not the GeoCouch plugin), so storing in a common zone (UTC) is wise.

Probably the most future-proof format is a string that naturally sorts in chronological order. Probably the most convenient such format is what JSON2 outputs:

> a = new Date();
Thu Jan 27 2011 18:40:52 GMT+0700 (ICT)
> JSON.stringify(a)
"2011-01-27T11:40:52.280Z"