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Dates
Parsing

Parse a date and time from a string

Given the string "2008-05-06 13:29", parse it as a date representing 6th March, 2008 1:29:00pm in the local time zone.
python
import time
time.strptime("2008-05-06 13:29", "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M")
erlang
% AFAIK, no datetime-parsing library exists; 'parse_to_datetime' is a simplistic, problem-specific hack
LocalDateTime = erlang:universaltime_to_localtime(parse_to_datetime("2008-05-06 13:29:34")),
clojure
(.. (SimpleDateFormat. "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm")
(parse "2008-05-06 13:29"))
cpp
DateTimeOffset^ dateTime = DateTimeOffset::Parse("2008-05-06 13:29");

// Use format specifiers to appropriately format string
// 1. Default culture
Console::WriteLine("{0}", dateTime->ToString("d MMMM, yyyy h:mm:sstt"));

// 2. Nominated culture
Console::WriteLine("{0}", dateTime->ToString("d MMMM, yyyy h:mm:sstt"), Globalization::CultureInfo::CreateSpecificCulture("en-us"));
DateTimeOffset^ dateTime = DateTimeOffset::Parse("2008-05-06 13:29");

// Customize date/time string
Text::StringBuilder^ dsb = gcnew Text::StringBuilder(40);
dsb->Append(dateTime->ToString("%d"))->Append("th ")->Append(dateTime->ToString("MMMM, yyyy h:mm:ss"))->Append(dateTime->ToString("tt")->ToLower());

Console::WriteLine("{0}", dsb);
Printing

Display information about a date

Display the day of month, day of year, month name and day name of the day 8 days from now.
python
from datetime import datetime, timedelta

eightDaysFromNow = datetime.now() + timedelta(days=8)

print eightDaysFromNow.strftime('%d') # day of month
print eightDaysFromNow.strftime('%j') # day of year
print eightDaysFromNow.strftime('%B') # month name FULL
print eightDaysFromNow.strftime('%A') # day of week name FULL
clojure
(let [cal (Calendar/getInstance)]
(.add cal Calendar/DAY_OF_YEAR 8)
(println (.format (SimpleDateFormat. "d, D, MMMM, EEEE")
(.getTime cal))))
cpp
QDate dateEightDaysFromNow = QDate::currentDate().addDays(8);

Display a date in different locales

Display a language/locale friendly version of New Year's Day for 2009 for several languages/locales. E.g. for languages English, French, German, Italian, Dutch the output might be something like:

Thursday, January 1, 2009
jeudi 1 janvier 2009
giovedì 1 gennaio 2009
Donnerstag, 1. Januar 2009
donderdag 1 januari 2009

(Indicate in comments where possible if any language specific or operating system configuration needs to be in place.)
python
from datetime import datetime
from locale import setlocale, LC_TIME

now = datetime(2009, 1, 1)

locales = ('en_us', 'fr_fr', 'it_it', 'de_de', 'nl_nl')
for locale in locales:
setlocale(LC_TIME, locale)
print now.strftime('%A, %B %d %Y')

clojure
(let [time (.getTime (GregorianCalendar. 2009 Calendar/JANUARY 1))]
(doseq [locale ["en" "fr" "it" "de" "nl"]]
(println (.format (DateFormat/getDateInstance DateFormat/FULL
(Locale. locale))
time))))
cpp
QList<QLocale::Language> locales;
locales << QLocale::English
<< QLocale::French
<< QLocale::German
<< QLocale::Italian
<< QLocale::Dutch;

QDate date(2009, 1, 1);
foreach (QLocale::Language ll, locales)
{
QLocale::setDefault(ll);
qDebug() << date.toString(Qt::DefaultLocaleLongDate);
}
Creation

Display the current date and time

Create a Date object representing the current date and time. Print it out.
If you can also do this without creating a Date object you can show that too.
python
from datetime import datetime
print datetime.utcnow()
erlang
io:format("~p~n", [calendar:local_time()])
clojure
(import 'java.util.Date)

(println (str (Date.)))
cpp
QDate now = QDate::currentData();
qDebug() << now.toString();
time_t date = time(0);
cout << ctime(&date);