harmonize timestamp types

[aszepieniec]

Various types are used throughout the code base to capture dates (with time). By convention we count the number of milliseconds since the Unix epoch, but even for this number the types Duration, u64, and BFieldElement are used rather interchangeably. Note that BFieldElement is used for consensus-critical data structures such as Block and Transaction.

• harmonize timestamp types
• define and use boilerplate-reducing convenience functions

[elielnfinic]

Is there anybody working on this? If not, I can work on it.

[dan-da]

@elielnfinic no one is working on it that I know of. A PR would be welcome.

edit: it looks like this is addressed by 9e55a5b actually.

@aszepieniec may be waiting on #120 before merging to master.

[elielnfinic]

Good that a custom Timestamp model was created.

[dan-da]

@aszepieniec With #124 merged, maybe now is a good time to get 9e55a5b into master? I'm guessing there might be some conflicts to resolve.

[aszepieniec]

@aszepieniec With #124 merged, maybe now is a good time to get 9e55a5b into master? I'm guessing there might be some conflicts to resolve.

Yes it is. No time like the present.