1705320000. That's a Unix timestamp. Can you tell what date and time it represents? If not, you're missing out on one of the most useful formats in computing.
What Is a Unix Timestamp?
A Unix timestamp is the number of seconds since January 1, 1970, at 00:00:00 UTC. That's the Unix epoch. The timestamp 0 is exactly that moment.
1705320000 converts to approximately January 15, 2024. The exact moment: January 15, 2024, 12:00:00 PM UTC.
Why Developers Love Them
Timestamps are integers. They're easy to store, compare, and compute. You can add 86400 seconds to any timestamp to add exactly one day, regardless of timezones, daylight saving, or calendar quirks.
No ambiguity: "January 1, 2024" could mean different things in different locales. 1704067200 means one specific moment in time.
The Millisecond Question
JavaScript's Date.now() returns milliseconds since epoch, not seconds. Most Unix systems use seconds. Make sure you're using the right units when converting between systems.