Using a consistent numeric interpretation for timestamps, dates and
times simplifies a bunch of operations. It certainly simplifies
conversion between the Postgres formats.
...I was hoping not to have to implement the date type, because date
conversions suck, but it turns out manned.org actually needs it.
(Only to then convert it into a Unix timestamp again, hmm, maybe this
string conversion isn't useful at all?)
NOW we're really getting to the part where this module is more awesome
than DBD::Pg.
(When I started working on this module I was expecting that the Postgres
binary protocol would send jsonb in a binary format as well and that I'd
be duplicating parts of the JSON parser/formatter to make that work, but
it turns out that Postgres just uses plain json for exchange. Saves me
some trouble, I guess)