What is year 2038 problem?

Question

i was looking on wiki and found something about y2038 and i wanted to know what is it about, what are the threats, and if the government is going to wasted billions of dollars on it like they did on y2k?

Answer 1

simply change the time on your computer to 2038 feb19 you will see that everything is still working fine. the only thing that will happen is your programs will be outdated. but when put back to the right date everything will be fine. so its nothing to worry about. just like Y2k it was just something people want you to worry about. so its just a HOax.

Answer 2

Basically, on computers, a 4-byte time system is used, and the beginning of time is January 1, 1970, at 12:00:00 a.m. This is 0. So the value 919642718 is 919,642,718 seconds past 12:00:00 a.m. on January 1, 1970, which is Sunday, February 21, 1999, at 16:18:38 Pacific time (U.S.).

A 4-byte format has a limit of 2,147,483,647, which is January 19, 2038.

According to the 4-byte format, you cant go further than this time because it makes is invalid.

So basically, you only have problems with date and time calculations. Thats what is being fixed. Because on 9/19/2038 your time and date wont work.

Simply put...