Monday, August 3, 2009

In Year 2038 Something terrible will happen!


What will happen?
In the 19th of January 2038 03:14:07 UTC, some computer systems will crash, applications will stop working, database data will be all messed up.

Why?
If the Computers are saving Time/Date as a signed 32 bit integer, the date will reach its maximum value at exactly this date and time 19 January 2038 03:14:07 UTC causing the decimal number to switch to negative, thus flipping back the date to 1901.

You scared me how to fix this?
Fixes can be done easily but at some binary compatibility cost.

They said the same for the millennium however, in 2038 the life is more dependent on computers then it was in 2000.

I hope we live to see this day!

4 comments:

  1. When the airplane crashes in my way from Bahrain to Lebanon in 2038, I will remember this post :P.

    ReplyDelete
  2. @Kamal
    LOOL THanks for your comment man
    Don't travel in that year :p

    ReplyDelete
  3. WOW, thats amazing but terrible
    I still do not yet understand why these computers crashes
    and how they expect it?

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  4. @Manna
    THe system will crash (only unix systems) because the date will be saved in a wrong value (will reset to year 1900)
    imagine comparing data from 2000 to 2038)to year 1900 will give wrong results

    negative values will be generated and saved in the database all these things will be missed up!

    ReplyDelete

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