JavaScript Date API Worksheet

Questions

This reference may be helpful in understanding how you can work with Date objects.

Question 1

If you invoke the Date constructor without passing in any parameters, what date will be stored in the object that is returned?

It'll create a Date object representing the current date and time.

Question 2

What is an 'epoch'?

It's a reference point used for time calculations.

Question 3

What is a 'Unix timestamp' (also known as 'epoch time')?

It used to represent the number of seconds since the unix timestamp.

Question 4

What is the actual date of the epoch for Unix timestamps?

It's January 1, 1970.

Question 5

What does the getTime() method of a date object return (refer to the link that was mentioned above, or find another reference on the Date object in JavaScript)?

the method returns the number of milliseconds since the unix epoch.

Question 6

If you are working with 2 date objects, how could you use the getTime() method to determine if one date is more recent than the other?

You can convert them to timestamps with "getTime()" and with the larger value being the most recent date.