Re: with or without timezone?

Joshua N Pritikin <jpritikin(at)pobox(dot)com> writes:
> I am designing a new schema from scratch. Which type is more natural to
> work with, a timestamp with a timezone or without a timezone? I read
> the 7.4 documentation on timezones two or three times but I'm still not
> really sure. The fact that the default is without time zone suggests
> that without is more natural. But I have a vague preference for with
> time zone. Can someone push me in the right direction?

The default is compelled by the SQL spec; it's not what the developers
think is the most rational choice ;-)

If you are storing timestamps that represent absolute points in time,
I would definitely recommend using TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE. That
will have the "correct" value if/when you look at the data from another
TimeZone setting.

I haven't seen all that many applications where TIMESTAMP WITHOUT
TIME ZONE was really the best choice; although if you want to do
date arithmetic without thinking about daylight-saving-transition
funnies, I suppose it has its uses. If you're not interested in
time-of-day at all, you should choose plain DATE.

regards, tom lane