code: def parseDate(dateString, strict=True):
      
      if (not strict) and (not dateString):
          return None
  
      if not isinstance(dateString, basestring):
          raise TypeError('%r is not a string' % dateString)
  
      return parser.parse(dateString)
docs: Return a datetime object, by parsing a string date/time
  
      With strict=False, dateString may be None or '', otherwise it must be a
      parseable string