Y2K – Year 2000

Y2K is an abbreviation for “year 2000” that caused problem in dealing with dates beyond December 31, 1999. Actually it was a problem for both digital and non-digital documentation and data storage situations which resulted from practice of abbreviating a four digit year to two digits. And that flaw, faced all over the world on January 1, 2000.

Y2K problem is also known as ‘millennium bug’ and the letter ‘K’ in Y2K stands for kilo is used to represent the number 1000. In 1960s computer engineers used two-digit code while writing the computer programs.  For example instead of date reading 1999, it read 99. Computer engineers shorten the date because data storage in computers was costly and took up lot of space.

And as year 2000 got nearer, computer programmers realized that computers might not interpret 00 as 2000, but as 1900. And matter of the fact is that the activities that were programmed on a daily or yearly basis would be damaged or flawed. As December 31, 1999, turned into January 1, 2000, computers might interpret December 31, 1999 turning into January 1, 1900.

And its consequences were that banks which calculate interest rates on a daily basis faced real problems. Centers of technology, such as power plants, were also threatened by Y2K bug because power plants depend on routine computer maintenance for safety checks. Airlines were put at risk, as computers with records of all scheduled flights would be threatened after all.

Realizing this and a host of other problems, a relentless battle to meet the Y2K challenge has been launched all over the world.

In fact it is claimed that Y2038 is so bad it could be worse than Y2K. It could cause major issues for any computer systems. And if the computer systems are upgraded in time then we able to protect ourselves from Y2038 occurrence.

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