> Alexander Belopolsky added the comment:
>
> In the context of Python library documentation, the word "encoding"
> strongly suggests that you are dealing with string/bytes.  The
> situation may be different in C. If you want to refer to something
> that is defined by the POSIX standard you should use the words that
> can actually be found in that standard.
>
> When I search for "encoding" at <http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/>, I get
>
> crypt - string encoding function (CRYPT) 
> encrypt - encoding function (CRYPT) 
> setkey - set encoding key (CRYPT)
>
> and nothing related to time.
>

I've provide the direct quote from *C* standard in my previous message msg231957:

  > 2. What is "calendar time in POSIX encoding"? This sounds like what time.asctime() returns.

  It is the language used by C standard for time() function:

    The time function determines the current calendar time. The encoding
    of the value is unspecified.
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ <- from the C standard

notice the word *encoding* in the quote.