What is the oldest time that can be represented in Python?

Question

I have written a function comp(time1, time2) which will return True when time1 is less than time2. I have a scenario where time1 should always be less than time2. I need time1 to have the least possible value (i.e. represent the earliest possible moment). How can I get this time?

Answer 1

For the standard issue UNIX timestamp. So, your earliest possible moment of time is back in 1970:

>>> import time

>>> time.gmtime(0)

(1970, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 3, 1, 0)