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Y
is for....
| Y2K
/ Year 2000 Problem |
When
the year 2000 was reached, a
variety of logic checks within
programs might suddenly fail if
they relied on two-digit year
indicators. Simply stated it was
supposed that if a computer does
routine logic checks on whether
report dates are valid, by
checking if a report's date
follows the date for a report
the previous year. Such a check
would have failed when the
report for year "00"
(interpreted as year zero by the
computer) follows year
"99". In the past,
before RAM became much cheaper,
one way to conserve memory was
to indicate years with only two
digits, and this method of
handling dates has remained at
the core of much software. Other
possible faults included
unanticipated shortening of
index numbers, stock numbers,
and the like, when the digits
for the year occur first, and
are accidentally read as leading
zeros, and so deleted. For
example, ABC-97001, for part
number 1 in 1997, could first
become ABC-00001 and then get
shortened to ABC-1, for part
number 1 in year "00".
Since the internals of programs'
construction are not generally
visible, such problems would not
be evident until programs
started failing after 12:00 AM,
January 1, 2000. It remained
practically impossible to test
all extant software for this
problem, but, as a precaution,
critical software was tested by
changing the date and time set
in the computer to the year
2000. ..…….but of course
that's all history now. |
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| Yoke |
The
part of a CRT (cathode-ray tube)
that deflects the electron beam,
causing it to strike a specific
area on the screen. |
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