Added section explaining legacy and new timestamp

presto-docs/src/main/sphinx/language.rst

@@ -7,3 +7,4 @@ SQL Language
 
     language/types
     language/reserved
+    language/timestamp

presto-docs/src/main/sphinx/language/timestamp.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+========================
+Legacy And New Timestamp
+========================
+
+New ``TIMESTAMP`` and ``TIME`` semantics align the types with the SQL standard.
+See the following sections for details.
+
+.. note::
+
+   The new ``TIMESTAMP`` semantics is still experimental. It's recommended to keep
+   the legacy ``TIMESTAMP`` semantics enabled. You can experiment with the new semantics
+   by configuring it globally or on a per-session basis. The legacy semantics
+   may be deprecated in a future release.
+
+Configuration
+-------------
+
+The legacy semantics can be enabled using the ``deprecated.legacy-timestamp``
+config property. Setting it to ``true`` (the default) enables the legacy semantics,
+whereas setting it to ``false`` enables the new semantics.
+
+Additionally, it can be enabled or disabled on a per-session basis
+with the ``legacy_timestamp`` session property.
+
+TIMESTAMP semantic changes
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Previously, the ``TIMESTAMP`` type described an instance in time in the Presto session's time zone.
+Now, Presto treats ``TIMESTAMP`` values as a set of the following fields representing wall time:
+
+ * ``YEAR OF ERA``
+ * ``MONTH OF YEAR``
+ * ``DAY OF MONTH``
+ * ``HOUR OF DAY``
+ * ``MINUTE OF HOUR``
+ * ``SECOND OF MINUTE`` - as ``DECIMAL(5, 3)``
+
+For that reason, a ``TIMESTAMP`` value is not linked with the session time zone in any way until
+a time zone is needed explicitly, such as when casting to a ``TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE`` or
+``TIME WITH TIME ZONE``. In those cases, the time zone offset of the session time zone is applied,
+as specified in the SQL standard.
+
+TIME semantic changes
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+The ``TIME`` type was changed similarly to the ``TIMESTAMP`` type.
+
+TIME WITH TIME ZONE semantic changes
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Due to compatibility requirements, having ``TIME WITH TIME ZONE`` completely aligned with the SQL
+standard was not possible yet. For that reason, when calculating the time zone offset for ``TIME WITH
+TIME ZONE``, Presto uses the session's start date and time.
+
+This can be seen in queries using ``TIME WITH TIME ZONE`` in a time zone that has had time zone policy
+changes or uses DST. For example, with a session start time of 2017-03-01:
+
+ * Query: ``SELECT TIME '10:00:00 Asia/Kathmandu' AT TIME ZONE 'UTC'``
+ * Legacy result: ``04:30:00.000 UTC``
+ * New result: ``04:15:00.000 UTC``

presto-docs/src/main/sphinx/language/types.rst

@@ -133,6 +133,8 @@ String
 Date and Time
 -------------
 
+See also :doc:`/language/timestamp`
+
 ``DATE``
 ^^^^^^^^