From: Al Christians <achrist@easystreet.com>
Subject: Re: Y2K Issues - Warning Off-Topic
Date: 1998/10/26
Date: 1998-10-26T00:00:00+00:00 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <36353FF5.D8F23DA8@easystreet.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: 3635225A.41C67EA6@smtp.svl.trw.com
Joel Seidman wrote:
>
> Robert A Duff wrote:
> > I also can't help but point out that two 8-bit quantities can of course
> > store a year-range of 65,536 years, so something's wrong when somebody
> > decides to use 16 bits to represent a 100-year range, because they're
> > short on memory, and 32 bits is too costly. That kind of decision
> > sounds more "convenient" or "expedient" than "intentional".
>
> Obviously if you really wanted to pack numbers you'd use BCD or binary.
> I've always thought attributing the "saving memory" motivation that you
> see in popular explanations is overly kind, a bit of a social lie.
Many of the business systems originated in the 1401 era. The IBM 1401
(a vey popular early-60's business machine) used numeric characters, but
it was possible to add an overpunch that would indicate an overflow out
of the high order position. With a variety of overpunches, a few
centuries
could be accomodated in a 2-digit field, more or less transparently to
the
programmer. There was no comparable support for bcd or binary formats on
those machines. When the 360's became the typical business machine, the
2-digit-year record formats persisted but the overpunch facility was
lost.
I guess anyone who gave it any thought figured the overpunches could
come
back if and when they were ever needed.
It wasn't just space that was being saved. Punched cards were a
standard
storage medium. For example, large sorts were done more on card sorters
than on other devices. The requirement of fitting a record on a card
and
the limitation of card interpreters to only print the first 60 or so
columns of data on the card were also strong motivation for 2-digit (or
less) year fields.
Al
next prev parent reply other threads:[~1998-10-26 0:00 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 60+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
1998-10-19 0:00 Y2K Issues John J Cupak Jr
1998-10-19 0:00 ` Niklas Holsti
1998-10-19 0:00 ` dewar
1998-10-19 0:00 ` Tucker Taft
1998-10-19 0:00 ` Joe Gwinn
1998-10-20 0:00 ` Joe Gwinn
[not found] ` <362B8D2F.802F42E6@lmco.com>
1998-10-20 0:00 ` Robert I. Eachus
1998-10-22 0:00 ` Mark Bennison
1998-10-22 0:00 ` dennison
1998-10-23 0:00 ` Robert I. Eachus
1998-10-20 0:00 ` dennison
1998-10-23 0:00 ` Michael F Brenner
1998-10-25 0:00 ` Michael Feldman
1998-10-26 0:00 ` dennison
1998-10-27 0:00 ` dewarr
1998-10-27 0:00 ` Tucker Taft
1998-10-27 0:00 ` Y2K Issues (well, not really...) Dave Wood
1998-10-28 0:00 ` Y2K Issues dennison
1998-10-28 0:00 ` Dave Wood
1998-10-27 0:00 ` John Herro
1998-10-26 0:00 ` Robert A Duff
1998-10-26 0:00 ` Joel Seidman
1998-10-26 0:00 ` Al Christians [this message]
1998-10-27 0:00 ` dewarr
1998-10-27 0:00 ` dewarr
1998-10-29 0:00 ` system
1998-10-29 0:00 ` Al Christians
1998-11-02 0:00 ` Marin David Condic
1998-11-04 0:00 ` Robert I. Eachus
1998-11-05 0:00 ` dewarr
1998-11-06 0:00 ` Robert I. Eachus
1998-11-06 0:00 ` Jerry van Dijk
1998-11-07 0:00 ` dewarr
1998-11-06 0:00 ` Al Christians
1998-11-08 0:00 ` Jerry van Dijk
1998-11-08 0:00 ` dewarr
1998-10-27 0:00 ` Gautier de Montmollin
1998-10-28 0:00 ` Arthur Evans Jr
1998-10-28 0:00 ` adam
1998-10-28 0:00 ` Al Christians
1998-10-29 0:00 ` Samuel Mize
1998-11-04 0:00 ` Robert I. Eachus
1998-10-28 0:00 ` dewar
1998-10-28 0:00 ` Gautier.DeMontmollin
1998-10-28 0:00 ` Jean-Pierre Rosen
1998-10-28 0:00 ` Robert I. Eachus
1998-10-29 0:00 ` Dale Stanbrough
1998-10-29 0:00 ` Tucker Taft
1998-10-29 0:00 ` dewar
1998-10-29 0:00 ` Tucker Taft
1998-10-30 0:00 ` dennison
1998-10-31 0:00 ` dewarr
1998-11-02 0:00 ` dennison
1998-10-30 0:00 ` Matthew Heaney
1998-10-31 0:00 ` dewar
1998-10-30 0:00 ` Dale Stanbrough
1998-10-29 0:00 ` Samuel Mize
1998-10-29 0:00 ` Mark A Biggar
1998-10-28 0:00 ` adam
1998-10-29 0:00 ` Gautier.DeMontmollin
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