How can we use Date in a C++ App?
In programming we have two important parameters that we frequently use – the Date and Time properties. The Date and Time property is obtained from a timer or time module which is a physical device on the hardware you are using. For example, a real-time clock (RTC) DS3231 module is used to count and ‘remember’ the correct time on IoTs. Other devices such as PC use a similar chip. All are backed by a battery, generally a flat ‘watch’ +3V CR200 battery. Normally, in most devices, you must set the correct time manually at the beginning after which the battery-backed timer chip takes over. With the advent of the Internet, we now have internet web sites to check real time based on your location via GPS tools. For example, Windows frequently checks keeps the time accurate using one or more of these ‘time servers’ also sometimes called network time protocol (NTP) servers.
We need Date and Time when checking or displaying current time in our applications. We need to note this in the configurations of our apps, or to set the time of files produced, game saves, tables, local databases and online databases requires these. Generally, we use Date and Time together.
In a standard C++ there is a chrono library that allows you to do all date, time and timer operations. The chrono library was designed to be able to deal with the fact that timers and clocks might be different on different systems and improve over time in precision. This a new modern way to use date and time,
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#include <chrono> #include <iostream> int main() { auto now = std::chrono::system_clock::to_time_t( std::chrono::system_clock::now() ); std::cout << std::ctime(&now) << '\n'; getchar(); } |
In C and C++, We can also use time.h library, we can get all date, time and timer values. In this library we use time_t datatype to define time(). Here is a Time example below,
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#include <stdio.h> #include <stdint.h> #include <time.h> int main(void) { time_t timenow = time(NULL); if(timenow != (time_t)(-1)) printf("Time is %s\n", asctime(gmtime(&result)) ); } |
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