> On Aug 7, 2014, at 1:01 PM, "Lester Caine lester@... [Firebird-general]" <Firebird-general@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
>
>
> It does surprise me that the 100 microsecond resolution has been around
> as I'm sure I've asked the question some time in the past!
>

Since 1984, approximately, in InterBase, and earlier in Rdb/ELN. For precisely the reason mentioned earlier: the 100 microsecond units (clunks) hold a day in 32 bits. Old-style dates, now Timestamps, are 64 bits. 32 time, 32 date.

I believe that leap seconds disappear at the start of the next day. So if you're counting seconds and happen to bridge a leap second, you'll be wrong by a second. And probably timestamps at a leap second are messy.

Cheers,

Ann