The Fix

The Y2K issue is mainly concerning core systems, those that deal with your bank accounts, insurance policies, pension funds, IRS records etc. For simple systems, you just change the date field from 6 to 8 characters, recompile and test. For complex systems, you may not have the option to change the date field as it may affect millions and millions of database records, requiring large database restructuring. When you have fixed your database, you must fix all interfaces to other systems and perform integration tests with those systems.

The most common method used is therefore to interpret the dates, called windowing. Each line of code that earlier referred directly to a date field will now call a subroutine which interprets that date, using a sliding scale. If the breakpoint is set at 50, a two-digit year 49 is interpreted as 2049 and the two-digit year 50 is interpreted as 1950. For some systems, this is adequate, for some it isn't. The final solution using 4-digit years will be an on-going effort for a long time after January 1, 2000.

Again, because somebody is warning you of a potential threat, do not automatically assume they have your best interests in mind. FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) are the best mechanisms to create followers. Think for yourself, and you will identify who is lying!

Offered by Jan