Getting times in different convenient string representations and other objects

Methods
Constants
DATE_FORMATS = { :db => "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S", :short => "%d %b %H:%M", :long => "%B %d, %Y %H:%M", :rfc822 => "%a, %d %b %Y %H:%M:%S %z"
Public Class methods
included(klass)
    # File vendor/rails/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/time/conversions.rb, line 16
16:         def self.included(klass)
17:           klass.send(:alias_method, :to_default_s, :to_s)
18:           klass.send(:alias_method, :to_s, :to_formatted_s)
19:         end
Public Instance methods
to_date()
    # File vendor/rails/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/time/conversions.rb, line 25
25:         def to_date
26:           ::Date.new(year, month, day)
27:         end
to_formatted_s(format = :default)
    # File vendor/rails/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/time/conversions.rb, line 21
21:         def to_formatted_s(format = :default)
22:           DATE_FORMATS[format] ? strftime(DATE_FORMATS[format]).strip : to_default_s          
23:         end
to_time()

To be able to keep Dates and Times interchangeable on conversions

    # File vendor/rails/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/time/conversions.rb, line 30
30:         def to_time
31:           self
32:         end