29.10. Problems with the Year 2000
The special problems with the year 2000 took on a life of their own in the computer community, so they rate a separate section in this book. Yes, I know you thought it was over by now, but it still shows up and you need to think about it. The three major problems with representations of the year 2000 in computer systems are:
| 1. | The year 2000 has a lot of zeros in it. |
| 2. | The year 2000 is a leap year. |
| 3. | The year 2000 is a millennium year. |
| 4. | Many date fields are not really dates. |
29.10.1. The Zeros
I like to call the first problem—the zeros in 2000—the “odometer problem,” because it is in the hardware or system level. This is not the same as the millennium problem, where date arithmetic is invalid. If you are using ...
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