I'm trying to write a method different(self, other) that returns an integer that represents the # of days between self(one calendar date) and other(another calendar date).
asked Nov 17, 2014 at 21:53
George Washingpound
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2 Answers 2
You haven't shared your Date class with us, but Python already provides one, complete with methods to calculate date differences:
>>> from datetime import date
>>> a = date(2014,11,10)
>>> b = date(2014,12,24)
>>> b-a
datetime.timedelta(44)
>>> (b-a).days # if you need the number of days as an integer
44
I usually prefer datetime.datetime, though - it provides greater accuracy and more methods to manipulate dates:
>>> from datetime import datetime
>>> a = datetime(2014,11,10) # works just the same, but you can also
>>> b = datetime(2014,12,24) # add hours/minutes/seconds etc.
>>> b-a
datetime.timedelta(44)
>>> (b-a).days
44
answered Nov 17, 2014 at 21:57
Tim Pietzcker
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1 Comment
Tim Pietzcker
Date calculation is hard. Why reinvent the wheel? Or are you just doing this as a learning experience?
Convert to datetime.date
def diff(a, b):
adate = datetime.date(a.year, a.month, a.day)
bdate = datetime.date(b.year, b.month, b.day)
return abs(adate.toordinal() - bdate.toordinal())
you can get this for free in your Date class if you inherit from `datetime.date (check out the ttcal module I wrote for a time-tracking app for an example: https://github.com/datakortet/dk/blob/master/dk/ttcal.py#L471)
answered Nov 17, 2014 at 21:58
thebjorn
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Comments
lang-py
Dateclass come from? Why are you not usingdatetime.date?