News from the ether --
FromCannon/FCC--from IEEE Computer November 1999
The change of the year probably won't bring down the internet, experts say, but a fishing expedition on the web brought in a larger-than-expected catch of Y2K problems.
Jocelyn Amon, a computer consultant in new Zealand, searched the web for Y2K-related errors and found that non-compliant code abounds even on web pages coded in modern languages, such as java, perl, and C++. Amon said she surveyed the web because it provides a huge amount of easily accessed program code and because it is easy to find the people who created or maintain that code.
Amon said she found over 300 code errors in a six-hour search. For example, she said, some programmers hard-coded "19" before the year value in date fields, including those for the year 2000, and some programmers failed to account for 29 February 2000.
Amon said her findings disprove some common y2k myths. For example, she said, it wont be true that y2k errors will be found only in code written in such early languages as cobol, or that the y2k problem will mainly afflict older applications and computer systems, such as mainframes. Such myths lead to a false sense of security among those who code and use newer systems, she said.
Ken |
