Hearthlist Digest #200 - Wednesday, September 2, 1998 hellp by "Craig Issod" <[email protected]> Year 2000 Story and comments by "Craig Issod" <[email protected]>
(back) Subject: Year 2000 Story and comments From: Craig Issod <[email protected]> Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1998 10:10:40 -0500 I wrote the following Y2000 story which I'd like to share with our readers. In addition, please read the correction below the story, which was submitted by a programmer.... Year 2000- Are you...and your stove ready? It's amazing - Our local store is seeing an incredible increase in business due to the upcoming new millenium. People are coming in on a daily basis buying stoves, fireplaces and other heaters so they can assure that their homes will stay warm "just in case" any of the Year 2000 scare stories come true. What's the big deal about the turn of the new century? According to experts in the field, there is a real possibility of interruption in essential services, such as electric power, phone service or even food (trucking, etc). This stems from the fact that many of the large computers that are critical to the operation of these systems were programmed incorrectly. The use 2 digits to represent the year, such as "98" for 1998, 99 for 1999, etc. When the year 2000 rolls around, these computer systems will show "00" as the date and cease to function. So, what to do? - - At one end of the spectrum, there are survivalists and others who are spending every waking moment preparing for the fateful day. Many others are doing nothing at all and keeping their faith in mankind and the government that everything will be taken care of for them. And yours truly? Well, I like to approach everything in moderation. I'm going to make certain that I have a nice pile of wood and that my stove is in decent operating condition. I also have a hand pump for my well that's been laying around for years...I'll make certain that it works. Add to that a few candles, batteries and the usual food stock we have in our pantry and I'll be ready for a couple days...or even weeks blackout or brownout. I still remember the ice storms of 1994. Many people had to leave their homes due to lack of heat. I heard many stories from our customer about how they were able to stay in their homes and help their cold neighbors. Whether or not you believe in the year 2000 hoopla, a wood or gas stove/fireplace can be a great investment. It can be used regularly to offset your heating bills and provide entertainment and a family gathering place. Then, the event of ANY mishap, such as furnace breakdowns, power outages, fuel price spikes, power failures, etc., it can be used as a secure backup source of heat. ---end of story..... Programmers comments: Thanks for News from the Hearth. I appreciate it. I do have a comment on the most recent issue, though. While the year 2000 suggestions you make are good, and not nearly the alarmist sky-is- falling hysteria I hear occasionally, I'd like to correct one thing. > etc). This stems from the fact that many of the large computers that are > critical to the operation of these systems were programmed incorrectly. The > use 2 digits to represent the year, such as "98" for 1998, 99 for 1999, > etc. When the year 2000 rolls around, these computer systems will show "00" > as the date and cease to function. I'm a programmer that was solving the year 2000 problem back in 1986. The problem is not that the systems were programmed incorrectly -- they were programmed according to the priorities dictated by business management. Memory and disk space were expensive, and saving two characters worth of space was deemed important by the accountants. Those of us writing code knew exactly what the problems were going to be, and weren't permitted to write programs that would avoid them. This has become a sore point for me and for many other programmers. Our work is not and was not defective. Yes, there are programs that are going to fail when the century rolls over. But the problems are mostly caused by short sighted business decisions, managers not wanting to invest the funds for enough disk space to avoid the problem. The problem was not error-prone programming. Thanks again for HearthNet. I like the information I get from it, and I appreciate knowing how to use my wood stove better. -- Dennis R. Sherman [email protected] Chapel Hill, NC http://shermand.home.mindspring.com ------------------------------------------------------ Craig Issod HearthNet at http://www.hearth.com [email protected] Everything your Hearth Desires ------------------------------------------------------ Buddha says "avoid error" ------------------------------------------------------