[ntp:questions] Purpose of a leap second file?

[David E. Ross]

On 3/4/12 12:32 PM, Dave Hart wrote [in part]:
> On Sun, Mar 4, 2012 at 16:27, unruh <unruh at invalid.ca> wrote:
>> Thus one could, as Hasler does, aruge that UTC is simply an aberation,
>> like leap years, and like time zones, from the orderly progression of
>> the seconds (TAI), and should be handled in exactly the same way as leap
>> days, daylight saving time, or timezones. Others, apparenly like you,
>> like the idea that the seconds track the day as well as possible. It is
>> a matter of preference, not some sort of "natural order".
> 
> I have no problem with people having a preference for TAI (and its
> rare days of length 86401 seconds) over UTC (with leap seconds and
> consistent 86400 second days).

That is backwards.

TAI never has a day of 886401 seconds.  Thus, noon TAI slowly deviates
from the mean noon at Greenwich.

UTC does not have consistent 86400-second days.  When there is a
leap-second, UTC has a day of 886401 seconds.

-- 

David E. Ross
<http://www.rossde.com/>

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