What are the advantages of using DateTime over Unix-Timestamp for storing date/time values in a database?

When storing date/time values in a database, using DateTime objects in PHP is advantageous over Unix timestamps because DateTime objects provide more flexibility and functionality for date/time manipulation and formatting. DateTime objects allow for easier handling of time zones, date arithmetic, and formatting options compared to Unix timestamps.

// Storing a date/time value using DateTime in PHP
$date = new DateTime('2022-01-01 12:00:00');
$datetimeString = $date->format('Y-m-d H:i:s');

// Storing the formatted date/time value in a database
// $pdo is assumed to be the PDO database connection
$stmt = $pdo->prepare("INSERT INTO table_name (datetime_column) VALUES (:datetime)");
$stmt->bindParam(':datetime', $datetimeString);
$stmt->execute();