2. Why do we have this problem?
In the 1940s & 50s, there was limited space on 40 and 80-column punch cards. In the 1970s, computer memory was very expensive. Conserving just two bytes per record in memory (the "19" of 1975, for example) allowed software developers to be more efficient and save millions of dollars for their companies. These programming practices continued because the turn-of-the-century seemed far in the future. Good programming practice now calls for year 2000 aware date-handling methods, but many programsùparticularly older or custom onesùmust be assessed to determine their readiness for the year 2000.
Another source of the problem is sociologicalùthe everyday tendency for people to use two-digit shortcuts to indicate the calendar year. As a result, many computer users have included two-digit date shortcuts (for example, 98 for 1998) throughout their documents and spreadsheets. This seemingly innocent and timesaving practice is another major cause of the year 2000 issue.
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