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→more comics from the internet about this problem and how we shoudl always use linux epochs: new section
== time in seconds since 1970 aka linux epochs ==
== time in seconds since 1970 aka linux epochs ==
To save space, Mbient labs records time in seconds since start of recording. When the appropriate app exports the data time is represented as seconds since 1970; basically linux epochs. This is easier to parse, see the 'lubridate' R package. If the CSV file contains errors or complex quote in quote or strings with many special characters like URLs the problem becomes more complicated. When I analyze the data some functions can not work with class time date so I am forced to convert time date back to seconds. This may not apply to all statistical analysis tools but they all internally hold time date as something very close to a double or integer than a character string.
To save space, Mbient labs records time in seconds since start of recording. The Mbient app exports data time represented as seconds since 1970; basically linux epochs. This is easier to parse, see the '[https://lubridate.tidyverse.org/ lubridate]' R package. If the CSV file contains errors or complex quote in quote or strings with many special characters like URLs the problem becomes more complicated *(and so easier parsing is needed). When I analyze the data some functions can not work with class time-date so I am forced to convert time-date back to seconds. This may not apply to all statistical analysis tools but they all internally hold time date as something much closer to a double or integer than a character string.
: The unix epoch still has the problem of not being aware of TZ at all right, so depending on what you set on the device as timezone it might be UTC or something else though? - [[User:Gedankenstuecke|Gedankenstuecke]] ([[User talk:Gedankenstuecke|talk]]) 13:49, 3 June 2022 (UTC)
:: TZ is basically very general location. Do you need every device tracking it? TZ is not as good for health issues as weather esp sun set sun rise. [[User:DG|DG]] ([[User talk:DG|talk]]) 00:50, 4 June 2022 (UTC)
:: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_time the time zone is UTC or practicaly none at all.
== more comics from the internet about this problem and how we shoudl always use linux epochs ==
https://xkcd.com/2562/