Y2K Problem(The millenium bug) Demystified and Interpreted…

Sliding back to two and half decades ago, a giant conundrum sparkled in the tech era which manifested as a bone of contention in the IT hub puzzling many technicians and bewildering them days and nights in the interim where there was a misconception of “End Of Programming World”. This haunting monster left tech giants in the dark space.

Let me dive deep into this issue and put forth hidden truths and facts behind it. In Y2K glitch, letter “Y” refers to year and “2K” refers to 2000. It is coined by programmers in this way. Y2K is a computer glitch or flaw which left millions of computer engineers blank. It gave a ominous sign of End of programming world. This issue was addressed and published in many newspapers and magazines . It circulated and trended rounds and rounds even in the internet too.

Let me elucidate how Y2K glitch sprang up. In the early 20th century (1960s and 1980s), programmers coded computers by default in such a way that all the years from 1900 to 1999 were interpreted as 00 and 99 neglecting 19' before all years by all the computers. Engineers shortened the date because data storage in computers is costly and took up a lot of space. Supposing ,the date 27–06–1999 is coded and synchronised as 27–06–99. When the year 2000 popped up, all the computers were instructed and interpreted the date 01 -01–2000 as 01–01–00 which is a blunder. It shows the processed data which is of year 1900 and thereby does all tasks. This led to do all the tasks with misinformation. As December 31 ,1999 turned into January 01 ,2000 , computers might interpret December 31 , 1999 turning in to January 01 ,1900.

Banks, which calculate interest rates on a daily basis, faced real problems. Interest rates are the amount of money a lender, such as a bank, charges a customer, such as an individual or business, for a loan. Instead of the rate of interest for one day, the computer would calculate a rate of interest for minus almost 100 years!

Transportation also depends on the correct time and date. Airlines in particular were put at risk, as computers with records of all scheduled flights would be threatened after all, there were very few airline flights in 1900.

Power plants depend on routine computer maintenance for safety checks, such as water pressure or radiation levels. Not having the correct date would throw off these calculations and possibly put nearby residents at risk.

The simplest solution was the best: The date was simply expanded to a four-digit number. Governments, especially in the United States and the United Kingdom, worked to address the problem.

That’s all about Y2K bug..

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