Timezones as Types: Making Time Safer to Use in Go
3 days ago
- #timezone
- #Go
- #generics
- Meridian uses Go generics to encode timezones into the type system, preventing runtime bugs.
- Traditional `time.Time` in Go lacks timezone enforcement, leading to common production issues like incorrect job scheduling or financial reporting.
- Meridian introduces type-safe timezones (e.g., `et.Time`, `pt.Time`), ensuring compile-time checks for timezone correctness.
- The library provides idiomatic helpers for each timezone, making code self-documenting and reducing errors.
- Meridian stores times internally as UTC, ensuring zero-value safety and consistent behavior.
- Cross-timezone operations are enabled via the `Moment` interface, allowing seamless comparisons between different timezone types.
- The design includes package-level location loading for efficiency and fail-fast behavior on missing timezones.
- Real-world examples show how Meridian can be used for scheduling tasks like fund releases, ensuring timezone accuracy throughout the process.