Be prepared for Y2038

http://www.dewtronics.com ^ | Feb 3, 2005 | Dr. GUI

[freedumb2003]

I ran an entire company on an S100 bus CPM machine for several years.

We used WordStar and I wrote the acocunting software myself -- using some Z80 assembler functions.

I had to develop my own memory management modules to devise my own simulated virtual memory.

Ahh, the gold old days. When real programmers managed memory directly.

[supercat]

Couldn't the problem be pushed off for another 68 years by switching to a 32-bit SIGNED quantity, except in systems where negative values have some particular meaning?

What's bizarre is that the Macintosh, unlike Unix, uses unsigned 32-bit quantities for dates, but bases its date calculations on January 1, 1904. Can anyone suggest why they might have chosen that as an epoch date?

[demlosers]

I'm sure by 2038, Unix, Linux gurus will have rewrote the code.

[SandRat]

By that time I'll be 89 if I'm still around and doubt that I'll be pounding a keyboard. Working in the software world there are so many solutions to this it just needs to be a common solution and the hardware is a non-issue. The useful life span of the computer we see every day at work is about 4 years so let's see that means that the business and home systems would have been replaced about 8 times.

This is just fear mongering by some techno-geek looking to cash in like some of his buddies he having missed out on the Y2K Kash Kow!

[supercat]

I'm sure by 2038, Unix, Linux gurus will have rewrote the code.

Actually, in many cases code is not the problem--data is. If you have a database in which dates are stored as YYMMDD (decimal), and in which transactions have to be processed 24/7/365.25, converting the data to a different format is a non-trivial operation. It's not impossible, of course, but ensuring that the data state is kept consistent through the switch can be a challenge.

That said, I really don't see the Y2038 issue as being much of a problem. I would not be surprised if some code uses -1 as a sentinel value, but otherwise I would think most code could migrate dates from an signed long to an unsigned long without any real difficulty. C's typing rules could make a few things a bit irksome, but if code is inspected with some reasonable modicum of care I don't think there should be ably problems.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

And by then 95 percent of technology in use will have been re-developed.

No kidding. When it all goes to 64 bit (or higher), this whole thing is a moot point.

So, no...the sky isn't falling. It's just frozen Airline toilet waste products that are hitting your roof, people.

[Longwalled Newbie]

Could I have imagined a computer 33 years ago? Maybe--if it was coal-&-wood-fired! I mean: Thirty-three years ago, we didn't yet have access to private phonelines or push-button phones out here in the boonies. The "party-line" didn't become a thing-of-the-past until 1988--only 16 years ago! And, now, considering that I'm still using AOL version 4.0 on a 24K dial-up? . . .well, you get the picture. :-)

[boris]

It doesn't matter. The world ends in 2010 or 2012 or something. A big meteorite or something. Not to worry.