Here's what I've discovered from playing with the date and time functions available in Java 1.1 and from reading the class documentation for java.util.Date, java.text.DateFormat, and java.util.TimeZone (using JAVA.EXE full version "JDK 1.1.8 IBM build o118-19991204 (JIT enabled: javax V3.5-IBMJDK1.1-19991204)").

Java always uses GMT, storing both the date and the time as a single value consisting of the number of milliseconds that have elapsed since January 1, 1970 (not counting leap seconds).

Java parses the system's TZ variable into three parts: The time zone ID, the standard offset from GMT, and the optional daylight savings indicator.

The time zone ID consists of three (3) characters and is sometimes called a triliteral (but not by Java). The java.util.Date class recognizes the time zone IDs listed here (a parenthetical D follows the time zone IDs that Java applies daylight savings time to): GMT, UTC, ECT (D), EET (D), ART (D), EAT, MET (D), NET, PLT, IST (D), BST, VST, CTT, JST, AET, SST, MIT, HST, AST (D), PST (D), PNT, MST (D), CST (D), EST (D), IET, CNT (D), AGT, and BET (D). The java.util.TimeZone class also recognizes ACT, NST, PRT, and CAT. All time zone IDs must be in upper case in order to be recognized by Java.

The standard offset from GMT is the negative offset between GMT and local time when daylight savings time is notin effect (the offset being the value that must be added to the GMT time in order to obtain the local time). For example, the time zone that I am in is the US eastern standard zone (EST) with daylight savings (EDT). When daylight savings is not in effect, if GMT is 13:30:00, then EST is 8:30:00, which is 5 hours behind (i.e., -5:00), which results in a TZ offset of 5 (or +5, if the optional + sign is used).

The daylight savings indicator is only used to indicate that the local time zone uses daylight savings time. It is not used to display the daylight savings time zone ID. For example, I can set my OS/2 TZ variable to "EST5EDT" or "EST5Z" and still get the correct time and daylight savings time zone ID reported by Date.toString during daylight savings time.

There are two ways to obtain a human readable representation of the local time in Java. One is to use the toString method in the Date class. The other is to use the DateFormat class, which uses the TimeZone class.

Java obtains the GMT time by asking the system for the local time and then adding the offset value that it derived from the TZ setting, adjusting for daylight savings time if the optional daylight savings time indicator is present in the TZ variable and daylight savings time is in effect.

The toString method returns the local date and time using six (6) fields. The fields are as follows, in order for the US locale: Abbreviated day of week name, abbreviated month name, 2-digit day of month, 24 hour time as hh:mm:ss, time zone, and 4-digit year. For example: "Sat May 09 15:11:30 EDT 1998". Note: The reported time zone is the "official" time zone, not the arbitrary time zone ID. For example, if you have "TZ=EET-2ART", then the time zone is reported as "GMT+03:00" if daylight savings are in effect, otherwise "GMT+02:00".

The DateFormat class is very flexible in reporting either the local time or the time in any time zone supported by Java. If you tell it to report the time zone ID, it does it in the same way as Date.toString(). You can also have it report the full name of the time zone.

Java provides a SimpleTimeZone class that Java programmers can use to provide extended time zone support, including when the daylight savings time starts and ends. Unfortunately, Java does not use this class for its own default time zone support. Java program users can only hope that programmers who decide to use this class in their Java programs will do so by parsing the system's extended TZ variable, so that if the daylight savings start and end times change, it will only be necessary to change that information in one place.

The format for the extended TZ variable should be SET TZ=<time zone ID><inverse GMT offset><daylight time zone ID>,<start month>,<start day in month>,<start day of week>,<start time in seconds>,<end month>,<end day in month>,<end day of week>,<end time in seconds>,<daylight savings offset in seconds>, which maps readily to the SimpleTimeZone(int,String,int,int,int,int,int,int,int,int) constructor (programmers: remember to subtract 1 from the months). An example for a time zone with a 10 hour offset with a 1 hour daylight savings offset from the last Sunday in October through the last Sunday in March (i.e., parts of Australia) would be:
SET TZ=EST-10EDT,10,-1,0,7200,3,-1,0,7200,3600

The Java program that I wrote for my testing can be downloaded in a ZIP file that has both the ShowTime.java source file and the ShowTime.class run-time file. It uses no windows, writing its output to the Java console instead. It first outputs a table of all available TimeZone IDs, the default offset from GMT, if the TimeZone uses daylight savings time, the time zone's representation of 13:00:00 local time for January 1, 1998 and for June 1, 1998. Finally, it outputs the local time twice. Once using Date.toString and then using the DateFormat class. To run the program, use either "java ShowTime" or "jre ShowTime" from a command line prompt in the directory that you extracted the extract the contents of showtime.zip into.

I also wrote another Java program that outputs the local time using the RFC822 date/time format as updated by RFC 1123 (use 4-digit years instead of using 2-digit years) and RFC 2156 (use numeric time zone offsets from GMT/UT instead of using time zone IDs). To run the program, use either "java RFC822DT" or "jre RFC822DT" from a command line prompt in the directory that you extracted the extract the contents of showtime.zip into.