The Y10K bug ???
-
Not a problem. By year 10000, all of Earth will have switched to hex notation for representing years. The real problem will be all those programs that only accept digits.
That will probably have taken care of itself over time, as we gradually evolve into a sixteen digit form. Of course, the presence of the NumPad on the right may skew evolution such that we might not have a symmetrical distribution of 8 digits on each hand. Let's Put The Fun Back In Dysfunctional! - My Darts Team T-shirt
-
Hey developers! Maybe you think, that it's a bit too early, but that's what programmers in 1970s and 1980s were thinking! Computers had problems with year 2000, because they thaught that it was year 1900. Now think about year 10000. It will be a problem for computers! It's five chars (one more than now)! We have to redevelop our applications, redesign dialogs and reprogram our date-storing classes (like MFC CTime !!!). Too early? We have 8000 years? Don't be so sure. Maybe your software will still be used! The matrix has you! :suss: MP Maciej Pirog
Maciej Pirog wrote: Too early? We have 8000 years? Don't be so sure. Maybe your software will still be used! Hmm, my first reaction is, i'll be dead, so why care? But, on further consideration, what if there is developed a way to slow the aging process, so that i might live that long. And in the meanwhile, the job market changes, and all the cool, fun jobs (writing software for optical stereo systems in hot new languages like ZZ*=@#*! that replicate the elusive distortion introduced by the by-then archaic 128kbps MP3 encoding) are going to younger people. So the only thing that'll keep me employed is command of an archaic language that no-one wants to bother learning anymore, but has huge libraries of software needing maintenance. So, here's my plan: I'll write huge gobs of C++ and C# code, all with 4 character dates, being careful to ensure that the systems fail in extremely painful ways should a 5 character date ever occur. Then, i'll sit back and wait for job security. :D (BTW: Thanks for the heads-up on this; i might otherwise have shot my future career in the foot by using 64bit linear dates, etc.) --------
Laugh at your problems; everybody else does.
--Shog9 --
-
In retrospect, it may look that way. But there were some very good reasons to be concerned, and the hard work done by tens of thousands of technical experts before the event undoubtably prevented a great many serious failures. Even in the hardware store where I worked at the time, if I hadn't updated a number of systems before the event, we could well have been out of business in a couple of weeks. All our Point-of-Sale, online ordering, and office management systems would have ceased functioning correctly. The G/L, A/P, and A/R balances would have all gone out of whack, customer orders and deliveries would not have been completed, taxes would not have been paid on time, etc. Disaster for a small business, and the analyses and remediations I did, along with those from our suppliers, made 1/1/2000 just another day in the life:-) Let's Put The Fun Back In Dysfunctional! - My Darts Team T-shirt
Roger Wright wrote: Disaster for a small business, and the analyses and remediations I did, along with those from our suppliers, made 1/1/2000 just another day in the life lol. I cannot remember wery well, but was there an examlpe showing that Win2k bug is seriously damaging ? Or was it just the theory behind it? Venet. -------- Black holes are where God divided by zero.(Steven Wright)
-
Hey developers! Maybe you think, that it's a bit too early, but that's what programmers in 1970s and 1980s were thinking! Computers had problems with year 2000, because they thaught that it was year 1900. Now think about year 10000. It will be a problem for computers! It's five chars (one more than now)! We have to redevelop our applications, redesign dialogs and reprogram our date-storing classes (like MFC CTime !!!). Too early? We have 8000 years? Don't be so sure. Maybe your software will still be used! The matrix has you! :suss: MP Maciej Pirog
Yeah, it#s a bit early, we should wait until ofter the world cup, when we can all concetrate on this tricky problem. Dude. Maybe we should switch all input to a base-36 system.
Back in the days before yer Gighertz and Teraflops there was something we old timers called paranoia. Andrew Torrance, The Lounge [sighist]
-
Roger Wright wrote: Disaster for a small business, and the analyses and remediations I did, along with those from our suppliers, made 1/1/2000 just another day in the life lol. I cannot remember wery well, but was there an examlpe showing that Win2k bug is seriously damaging ? Or was it just the theory behind it? Venet. -------- Black holes are where God divided by zero.(Steven Wright)
Sure. All sales on an accumulating G/L system suddenly rung up as 1978, instead of 2000. Safety systems - elevators, for example - which prevent operation unless reset periodically, and which rely on a date, rather than an interval (several models do). Most PCs we had in the company were ok, but a couple would have entered the wrong year in transactions, and a couple is much worse than all for the purposes of isolating a bad transaction. Our alarm system used a keep-alive timer that send a code based on the last reported date/time. It suddenly would have reported the last check as twenty years overdue, triggering an immediate alarm. Some of the local gas stations using older digital technology would have been unable to pump gas, putting emrgency personnel (and our own delivery trucks) out of service. If we'd had a night shift, the payroll would have given them 20 years of overtime. Our main office software (Mostly MS) was all non-compliant. All of these were smoothly upgraded prior to the event, and no glitches were suffered as a result. The only reason that we technocrats are not being regarded as heros is that we all did our jobs superbly, and transparently to the public. Our thanks was a few years of massive cutbacks in IT budgets and wave after wave of layoffs. Let the Luddites handle the next crisis; I'm sitting it out in my bombshelter surrounded by food, guns, and gold. Let's Put The Fun Back In Dysfunctional! - My Darts Team T-shirt
-
Hey developers! Maybe you think, that it's a bit too early, but that's what programmers in 1970s and 1980s were thinking! Computers had problems with year 2000, because they thaught that it was year 1900. Now think about year 10000. It will be a problem for computers! It's five chars (one more than now)! We have to redevelop our applications, redesign dialogs and reprogram our date-storing classes (like MFC CTime !!!). Too early? We have 8000 years? Don't be so sure. Maybe your software will still be used! The matrix has you! :suss: MP Maciej Pirog
-
Hey developers! Maybe you think, that it's a bit too early, but that's what programmers in 1970s and 1980s were thinking! Computers had problems with year 2000, because they thaught that it was year 1900. Now think about year 10000. It will be a problem for computers! It's five chars (one more than now)! We have to redevelop our applications, redesign dialogs and reprogram our date-storing classes (like MFC CTime !!!). Too early? We have 8000 years? Don't be so sure. Maybe your software will still be used! The matrix has you! :suss: MP Maciej Pirog
time_t, as defined in most (if not all) UNIXes, is 32bit long, which means it'll wrap around in 2038. Many of us will be alive by then (though hopefully most will be retired.) Joaquín M López Muñoz Telefónica, Investigación y Desarrollo -
time_t, as defined in most (if not all) UNIXes, is 32bit long, which means it'll wrap around in 2038. Many of us will be alive by then (though hopefully most will be retired.) Joaquín M López Muñoz Telefónica, Investigación y DesarrolloI will be 72 and laughing at your asses. :) I saw this many years ago: COMPONENT: SYSTEM TIME OP/SYS: VMS, Version 4.n LAST TECHNICAL REVIEW: 06-APR-1988 SOURCE: Customer Support Center/Colorado Springs This base time of Nov. 17, 1858 has since been used by TOPS-10, TOPS-20, and VAX/VMS. Given this base date, the 100 nanosecond granularity implemented within VAX/VMS, and the 63-bit absolute time representation (the sign bit must be clear), VMS should have no trouble with time until: 31-JUL-31086 02:48:05.47. At this time, all clocks and time-keeping operations within VMS will suddenly stop, as system time values go negative. Note that all time display and manipulation routines within VMS allow for only 4 digits within the 'YEAR' field. We expect this to be corrected in a future release of VAX/VMS sometime prior to 31-DEC-9999. This was an honest to god tech support entry. Reminds me of the reasons why I enjoyed working on VAX/VMS systems so much. The good old days. :) Tim Smith I know what you're thinking punk, you're thinking did he spell check this document? Well, to tell you the truth I kinda forgot myself in all this excitement. But being this here's CodeProject, the most powerful forums in the world and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question, Do I feel lucky? Well do ya punk?
-
Hey developers! Maybe you think, that it's a bit too early, but that's what programmers in 1970s and 1980s were thinking! Computers had problems with year 2000, because they thaught that it was year 1900. Now think about year 10000. It will be a problem for computers! It's five chars (one more than now)! We have to redevelop our applications, redesign dialogs and reprogram our date-storing classes (like MFC CTime !!!). Too early? We have 8000 years? Don't be so sure. Maybe your software will still be used! The matrix has you! :suss: MP Maciej Pirog
-
:confused: Why hex? Did I miss something? What's preferable about it? I always thought the decimal system had some rather nice advantages (in a subconscious, unexplainable way, you know).
-Domenic Denicola- [CPUA 0x1337] MadHamster Creations "I was born human. But this was an accident of fate - a condition merely of time and place. I believe it's something we have the power to change..."
Why hex? Because you can have 4-digit years up to FFFF without rewriting all the programs that are now limited to just 9999.
-
Hey developers! Maybe you think, that it's a bit too early, but that's what programmers in 1970s and 1980s were thinking! Computers had problems with year 2000, because they thaught that it was year 1900. Now think about year 10000. It will be a problem for computers! It's five chars (one more than now)! We have to redevelop our applications, redesign dialogs and reprogram our date-storing classes (like MFC CTime !!!). Too early? We have 8000 years? Don't be so sure. Maybe your software will still be used! The matrix has you! :suss: MP Maciej Pirog
During the mid- to late-1990s, there was a certain COBOL programmer named Jack. After years of being treated as a technological dinosaur, Jack was finally getting some respect. He'd become a private consultant specialising in Year 2000 conversions. He was working short-term assignments for prestigious companies worldwide. He was working 70-, 80-, and even 90-hour work weeks, but it was worth it. Several years of this relentless, mind-numbing work eventually took its toll on Jack. He had problems sleeping due to Year 2000-related anxiety dreams. It reached a point where even the thought of 2000 nearly made him violent. He must have suffered a breakdown, because all he could think about was how he could avoid the Year 2000 problem. In a desperate effort, Jack contacted a cryogenics company and made a deal to have himself frozen until March 15th, 2000. This was a very expensive process and totally automated. He was thrilled. The next thing he'd experience would be waking up in 2000; after the New Year celebrations and computer debacles; after the leap day. Nothing else to worry about except getting on with life. He was put into his cryogenic receptacle, the technicians set the revive date, he was given injections to slow his heartbeat to a bare minimum, and that was that. The next thing Jack saw was a very modern room filled with excited people. They were all shouting "It's a miracle" and "He's alive!" There were cameras (unlike any he'd ever seen) and equipment that looked like it came out of a science fiction movie. A spokesperson for the group stepped forward. "Is it over?" Jack asked. "Is 2000 already here?" The spokeperson explained that there had been a problem with the programming of the timer on Jack's cryogenic receptacle---it hadn't been Year 2000-compliant. It was actually 8,000 years later. But he told Jack not to get excited; someone important wanted to speak to him. Suddenly, a wall-sized projection screen displayed the image of a man that looked very much like Bill Gates. This man was Prime Minister of Earth. He told Jack that this was a wonderful time to be alive. There was world peace and no starvation. There were colonies on the moon and Mars. Technology had advanced to such a degree that everyone had virtual reality interfaces that let them contact anyone else on the planet, or to watch any entertainment, or to hear any music recorded anywhere. "That sounds terrific," said Jack. "But why is everybody so interested in me?" "Well," said the Prime Minister. "The year 10,000 is just ar
-
During the mid- to late-1990s, there was a certain COBOL programmer named Jack. After years of being treated as a technological dinosaur, Jack was finally getting some respect. He'd become a private consultant specialising in Year 2000 conversions. He was working short-term assignments for prestigious companies worldwide. He was working 70-, 80-, and even 90-hour work weeks, but it was worth it. Several years of this relentless, mind-numbing work eventually took its toll on Jack. He had problems sleeping due to Year 2000-related anxiety dreams. It reached a point where even the thought of 2000 nearly made him violent. He must have suffered a breakdown, because all he could think about was how he could avoid the Year 2000 problem. In a desperate effort, Jack contacted a cryogenics company and made a deal to have himself frozen until March 15th, 2000. This was a very expensive process and totally automated. He was thrilled. The next thing he'd experience would be waking up in 2000; after the New Year celebrations and computer debacles; after the leap day. Nothing else to worry about except getting on with life. He was put into his cryogenic receptacle, the technicians set the revive date, he was given injections to slow his heartbeat to a bare minimum, and that was that. The next thing Jack saw was a very modern room filled with excited people. They were all shouting "It's a miracle" and "He's alive!" There were cameras (unlike any he'd ever seen) and equipment that looked like it came out of a science fiction movie. A spokesperson for the group stepped forward. "Is it over?" Jack asked. "Is 2000 already here?" The spokeperson explained that there had been a problem with the programming of the timer on Jack's cryogenic receptacle---it hadn't been Year 2000-compliant. It was actually 8,000 years later. But he told Jack not to get excited; someone important wanted to speak to him. Suddenly, a wall-sized projection screen displayed the image of a man that looked very much like Bill Gates. This man was Prime Minister of Earth. He told Jack that this was a wonderful time to be alive. There was world peace and no starvation. There were colonies on the moon and Mars. Technology had advanced to such a degree that everyone had virtual reality interfaces that let them contact anyone else on the planet, or to watch any entertainment, or to hear any music recorded anywhere. "That sounds terrific," said Jack. "But why is everybody so interested in me?" "Well," said the Prime Minister. "The year 10,000 is just ar
LOL! Outstanding, Daniel! Pardon me if I steal it:-D I Drowned Schroedinger's Stupid Cat!
-
LOL! Outstanding, Daniel! Pardon me if I steal it:-D I Drowned Schroedinger's Stupid Cat!