Yeah, I guess that makes sense to avoid symbols. In which case, it probably makes sense to split up the UNIX time_t into two numbers
Since i use messages like [double hi lo( with summed single-precision parts hi and lo to represent double-precision numbers, i would suggest something like [date ymd hms( where ymd and hms are some numbers that get encoded and decoded by some objects.
imo using the integer (float for subseconds) unixdate would be preferable, since it easily lends itself to simple processing - like adding 90 seconds without thinking about rolling over to the minute field. or nesting a set of abstractions for minute, hour, day, january, etc.. if pd can't really store the unix timestamp without munging it, that should be fixed.
Since Pd only has 19bits of integer resolution
are you sure about this? i seem to recall matju explaining its 23 bits or so..