Y2K issue is not alone!

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StarBlazer

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#127293 5-Aug-2013 16:45

Who said it was a once in a lifetime issue. Apparently the use of 32bit signed integers for dates will bring the world to a halt again (potentially and yes I'm over dramatising my statement).

Y2K bug again

Admittedly if I'm still programming in 25 years it will be a miracle!!

Procrastination eventually pays off.

MurrayM

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#872175 5-Aug-2013 17:06

I'll be 71 in 2038, so hopefully it will be someone elses problem!

freitasm

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#872184 5-Aug-2013 17:13

Perhaps they will need some COBOL devs, and I will find some good work then?

MurrayM

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#872209 5-Aug-2013 17:46

I haven't used my COBOL skills since the 80's, but I hear there is still a big demand for them!

StarBlazer

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#872381 5-Aug-2013 21:13

Admittedly it's unlikely that any of the systems will still be in operation when this date hits, but I'm sure they said that about the Y2K bug too.

Procrastination eventually pays off.

freitasm

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#872411 5-Aug-2013 22:26

The problem is not WHEN the date hits. If you go out now and get a 30 year home loan and your bank is using this kind of systems then it will be hit by it NOW.

jimbob79

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#872437 5-Aug-2013 23:29

Wow. I started to panic. Just done some tests in my native programming language (OpenEdge ABL), luckily I had no problem with dates exceeding the year 2038... phew.

StarBlazer

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#872472 6-Aug-2013 08:26

jimbob79: Wow. I started to panic. Just done some tests in my native programming language (OpenEdge ABL), luckily I had no problem with dates exceeding the year 2038... phew.

The problem is trying to compare two dates or work out the difference between two dates - if it's more than 1 Billion seconds (around 32 years) then a 32-bit integer will fail.

SAP has a couple of problems already when setting expiry dates that far in the future - their problem isn't 2038 but 2047 as they have a set baseline date!

As Mauricio said a good example will be banks and mortgages where 25+ year calculations are not uncommon!

Procrastination eventually pays off.

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Dratsab

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#872533 6-Aug-2013 10:08

freitasm: The problem is not WHEN the date hits. If you go out now and get a 30 year home loan and your bank is using this kind of systems then it will be hit by it NOW.

If banks were using systems affected by this problem we would have heard plenty about it 5 years ago.

freitasm

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#872535 6-Aug-2013 10:10

Sure, I don't think NZ banks are affected (as you say we would have heard about it before). But small banks in other countries might not have the same level of expertise we have here...

jimbob79

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#872577 6-Aug-2013 11:30

StarBlazer:
jimbob79: Wow. I started to panic. Just done some tests in my native programming language (OpenEdge ABL), luckily I had no problem with dates exceeding the year 2038... phew.

The problem is trying to compare two dates or work out the difference between two dates - if it's more than 1 Billion seconds (around 32 years) then a 32-bit integer will fail.

SAP has a couple of problems already when setting expiry dates that far in the future - their problem isn't 2038 but 2047 as they have a set baseline date!

As Mauricio said a good example will be banks and mortgages where 25+ year calculations are not uncommon!

The Progress software company relealised this potential bug about 9+ years ago and that's why it's inbuilt Advance Business Language (ABL) date interval function returns values as 64bit integer.