Lesson plan
Epoch (computing)
In computing, an epoch is a fixed date and time used as a reference from which a computer measures system time. Most computer systems determine time as a number representing the seconds removed from a particular arbitrary date and time. For instance, Unix and POSIX measure time as the number of seconds that have passed since Thursday 1 January 1970 00:00:00 UT, a point in time known as the Unix epoch. The C# programming language and Windows NT systems up to and including Windows 11 and Windows Server 2022 measure time as the number of 100-nanosecond intervals that have passed since 00:00:00 UTC on 1 January in the years AD 1 and AD 1601, respectively, making those points in time the epochs for those systems. Computing epochs are almost always specified as midnight Universal Time on some particular date.
Article summary
In computing, an epoch is a fixed date and time used as a reference from which a computer measures system time. Most computer systems determine time as a number representing the seconds removed from a particular arbitrary date and time. For instance, Unix and POSIX measure time as the number of seconds that have passed since Thursday 1 January 1970 00:00:00 UT, a point in time known as the Unix epoch. The C# programming language and Windows NT systems up to and including Windows 11 and Windows Server 2022 measure time as the number of 100-nanosecond intervals that have passed since 00:00:00 UTC on 1 January in the years AD 1 and AD 1601, respectively, making those points in time the epochs for those systems. Computing epochs are almost always specified as midnight Universal Time on some particular date.
Key claims
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Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
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Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.