TAI : Java Glossary

by Roedy Green ©1996-2009 Canadian Mind Products
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TAI: TAI, Temps Atomique International (French for IAT International Atomic Time), measures scientific time, without any concern for time zones, daylight saving or leap seconds. TAI time is defined in termed of the frequency of light from an excited cesium atom. Strangely, perhaps because TAI was invented back in 1955 before the age of computers, TAI times are identified by Gregorian year, month, day, hour, minute, and second. TAI gradually gets more and more out of sync with civil time. Java computations work by TAI times rules, but since computers pay attention to leap seconds when they resynch from atomic clocks, Java times stay in sync with civil time. TAI is currently ahead of UTC by 33 seconds.
Other schemes of scientific time are GPS and Loran both used in navigation, and Julian day number used in astronomy.
atomic clock
Calendar
Date
GMT
International Atomic Time
leap second
time
time sources
Timer
timestamp
UTC

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