RFR: 8266846: Add java.time.InstantSource

[Stephen Colebourne]

On Mon, 17 May 2021 14:04:24 GMT, Roger Riggs <rriggs at openjdk.org> wrote:

>> 8266846: Add java.time.InstantSource
>
> src/java.base/share/classes/java/time/InstantSource.java line 36:
> 
>> 34:  * Instances of this interface are used to find the current instant.
>> 35:  * As such, an {@code InstantSource} can be used instead of {@link System#currentTimeMillis()}.
>> 36:  * <p>
> 
> The word 'current' is likely to misleading here.  The specification of an interface does not have any context in which to describe what the instant represents or what it is relative to.
> Given the intended use cases, it is definitely not always related to System.currentTimeMillis() 
> which is bound to the running system.
> i think the best you could say is that it returns an instant provided by the source as does the 'instance()' method.

This is the definition used by `Clock` since Java 8. It is also the purpose of the interface. ie. this isn't an interface for providing instants in general, but for providing the _current instant_. I can clarify wrt the meaning of "current", but I don't see how that word can be avoided.

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PR: https://git.openjdk.java.net/jdk/pull/4016