Re: Question: How will the Year 2000 bug impact your work?

Andy, I didn't say it wasn't a problem. I said the solution wasn't as difficult as the popular press has made out. The logic for date calculations should actually get simpler once the century is included (again, this was never a problem for us since we always stored century, we just didn't require users to enter it except in a few special cases). I fully realize that if it isn't dealt with, major systems will fail to function correctly. BTW, I am an experienced mainframe Cobol programmer (about 12 years worth) and that work still consititutes about 50-70% of my job. What I did say is that the work required to fix it is relatively simple, just tedious and time consuming. For those unfortunate enough to store dates as 6 digits, files layouts will have to change and data will have to be rewritten -- a time consuming task but nothing particularly difficult. Programs that manipulate dates internally will have to recoded but the coding changes should actually make the logic simpler in most cases. Finding all the code that needs to change and making the changes may be time consuming and tedious but not difficult. My point is not that isn't a big or important job. I fully realize the impact this will have on major systems if it isn't fixed. My point is that the work required to fix it isn't technically difficult, just boring and time consuming. We have over 3 years to get it straightened out. There is absolutely no need for all the panic that some managers seem to be experiencing. Andy Lankester wrote: > > You don't think it's a problem? Check the going rate for *experienced* > mainframe COBOL contract programmers. That's a REAL measure of the > problem. It will be even worse in Europe with the billing changes > needed for a common currency coinciding with Y2K. Whatever you may > think it's the mainframes that run the systems that support your > interactions with government and the corporate world - so maybe YOU > should worry as well. > > Andy -- ================================================ Ray Porter Applications Analyst Programmer Administrative Information Services, UNC-CH Phone: 966-5878 email: lrp@email.adp.unc.edu dragon@email.unc.edu Home Page: http://www.adp.unc.edu/~lrp/