Unix Timestamps: A Practical Guide for Developers
OSTechNix, Friday, October 23rd, 2026
A practical guide to Unix timestamps: units, conversions, time zones, and avoiding precision, leap-second and Year 2038 bugs.
This beginner-friendly guide explains that a Unix timestamp counts seconds from the epoch, 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC, by convention, and that it does not guarantee a clock is correct or that two events get different values.
It covers the units a timestamp may use, from seconds to nanoseconds, and why the surrounding API must define which.
It walks through converting timestamps, handling time zones and storing them in databases, and explains pitfalls including precision loss, leap seconds and the Year 2038 overflow on 32-bit systems, with examples in common languages and tools.