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Delve into Python's datetime module as we explore the date class. Learn how to work with date objects, representing the year, month, and day, in Python's Gregorian calendar. Discover the default date format and understand the essentials of creating date objects.
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To help programmers handle date,
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the datetime module provides
a class called Date.
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We access this class by
using datetime.date.
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A date object represents the year,
month, and
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day in the current Gregorian calendar.
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There are 12 months in a year,
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each containing the correct number of days
based on whether it's a leap year or not.
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Among the differences in how
different countries write their date,
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Python has its own default format, year,
then month, then day, to avoid confusion.
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For us to work with dates,
we'll need to create a date object
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using the date class constructor provided.
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The date class constructor takes the year,
month, and day arguments.
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For example, year = 2023,
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month = 8, and day = 25.
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Unlike with the time class constructor,
all three arguments are required.
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So be sure to always provide all of them.
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Otherwise we'll get an error.
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Let's give it a go and
try to create a date without a year.
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datetime.date(month = 8, day = 25).
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We get an error.
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Function missing required
argument year in position 1.
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Just like the time constructor,
though, these arguments are positional.
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So as long as they are in the year,
month, day order,
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we can exclude the property
names completely,
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like so, datetime.date(2023, 8, 25).
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Just like we saw with the time object,
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we can access each of these
properties by calling them.
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Let's create a variable and
store the date inside of it.
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d = datetime.date(2023, 8, 25).
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Now we can call them using d.year for
the year,
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d.month for the month,
and d.day for the date.
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Let's say you want to create
a date object using today's date.
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Sure, we can have a look at our
computer's clock to check the date and
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create it using the constructor, but
we'd have to go in and change it tomorrow.
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Luckily the date class gives us
a handy method for this purpose.
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The aptly named today method creates
a date object with a current local date.
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Let's see it in action,
datetime.date.today( ).
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Next, we have the weekday method.
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When called on a date object,
this returns an integer
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representing the weekday of
that date where Monday is 0.
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Let's check it out.
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datetime.date.today( ).weekday( ).
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Of course, having Monday be represented
as 0 is a very programmatic
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way of thinking because
computers start counting from 0.
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If you foresee this
being confusing though,
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you can also take advantage
of our next method.
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isoweekday( ) returns the day of
the week is an integer when Monday is 1.
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The ISO calendar is a widely used
variant of the Gregorian calendar,
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where the week starts on Monday.
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Let's give this one a go.
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datetime.date.today( ).isoweekday( ).
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We can see that the integer returned
matches the weekday more intuitively.
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Of course, we can't mention ISO without
addressing its origins, the ISO calendar.
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ISO calendar will return a tuple
containing the year, week, and weekday.
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Let's check it out.
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datetime.date.today( ).isocalendar.
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The isocalendar( ) is most commonly
used to work out the ISO week number,
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which we can get from the week component.
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If you're creating perhaps a journal
app that includes the ISO week number,
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this will be a useful method for you.
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