--- title: "[RFC] Duration class" url: https://daily.dev/posts/rfc-duration-class-kszxgbqns source_url: https://externals.io/message/131502 type: article source: "externals.io" published: 2026-06-23T12:27:21.871Z updated: 2026-06-23T12:27:44.826Z tags: ["architecture", "php"] reading_time: 78 upvotes: 0 comments: 0 language: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # [RFC] Duration class **[externals.io](https://daily.dev/sources/externals)** · 78 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A PHP internals mailing list thread discussing a proposed RFC to introduce a new `Time\Duration` class in PHP 8.6. The class is designed to represent stopwatch-style durations (not calendar periods) to improve developer experience for timeout APIs, particularly the new Polling API. The RFC proposes a minimal API using seconds+nanoseconds internal representation, similar to Rust's and Java's Duration types. Discussion covers design decisions including: why the highest constructor unit is hours, omission of ISO 8601 serialization (deferred to PHP 8.7), exclusion of floating-point methods due to precision concerns, namespace choice (`Time` vs `DateTime`), and whether to use `add`/`sub` methods or a single variadic `sum` method. The RFC is explicitly positioned as the first step toward a modernized PHP date/time API. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [\[RFC\] Duration class](https://daily.dev/posts/rfc-duration-class-xgjb2no0i) · externals.io · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [\[RFC\] Duration class](https://daily.dev/posts/rfc-duration-class-bsqz20wx4) · externals.io · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [\[RFC\] Duration class](https://daily.dev/posts/rfc-duration-class-rxgaeger7) · externals.io · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [\[RFC\] Duration class](https://daily.dev/posts/rfc-duration-class-bncpnjcsw) · externals.io · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [\[RFC\] Duration class](https://daily.dev/posts/rfc-duration-class-dzweopaqb) · externals.io · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#architecture](https://daily.dev/tags/architecture), [#php](https://daily.dev/tags/php) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/rfc-duration-class-kszxgbqns)