Due to a programming error from 1970, all devices using 32-bit platforms will have problems by 2038.

The recent “blue screen” incident has seriously affected many countries, paralyzing computer systems at many airports, supermarkets, hospitals… You may not know, a computer incident The next one has been predicted to occur in 2038, with the name Y2K38 or Y2038.

This problem arises from the way the software is programmed to handle timing information. Accordingly, it will affect software that uses 32-bit integer numbers to store time information.

2038 is predicted to be the date of the next global computer crash

When programmers developed the first UNIX computer operating system in the 1970s, they decided to use 32-bit integers to measure time, starting from January 1, 1970. This system has been integrated into many software and hardware.

However, a 32-bit integer number system can only store a maximum value of 2,147,483,647. Therefore, on January 19, 2038 – which is 2,147,483,647 seconds after January 1, 1970 – this value will be surpassed. If not repaired promptly, all 32-bit systems can revert to a value of 0, resulting in them defaulting to displaying the current time as 1970.

Will the world’s computers… return to 1970 in 2038?

According to Professor Jonathan Smith from the Department of Computer and Information Science at the University of Pennsylvania, speaking in 2014, technically, fixing this error is not too difficult but will take a lot of time due to the very wide range of effects. big. However, the tech industry has about 24 years to prepare and fix this problem before it happens.

This incident is said to have similarities with the “Y2K incident,” a computer incident predicted to occur at the turn of the millennium (1999 – 2000).

The cause of this problem is that older computers are only programmed to recognize the last two digits of the year, making them unable to clearly distinguish between the years 2000 and 1900. This leads to concerns that when When computer clocks move from 1999 to 2000, systems can experience serious errors.