Nerd Alert; Unix Epoch time is 1234567890 in just under 5 hours.

[btiffin]

http://coolepochcountdown.com/

Cheers

[jernst]

my friends and i are having an epoch party tonight

[Vertico]

This will be one of the things you tell your grandchildren about.

[Euphoracle]

Vertico @ Fri Feb 13, 2009 2:05 pm wrote:

This will be one of the things you tell your grandchildren about.

Time will end by then. (2038)

[Vertico]

Euphoracle @ Fri Feb 13, 2009 3:12 pm wrote:

Vertico @ Fri Feb 13, 2009 2:05 pm wrote:

This will be one of the things you tell your grandchildren about.

Time will end by then. (2038)

Then start breeding now.

[Insectoid]

well, nothing happened, except an orgy of giddy geeks at the frat down the road. Actually, I made that up, there isn't a frat down the road.

[btiffin]

What do you mean nothing happened? The nerd world experienced a magic number. That only happens once every ... magic number.

Cheers

[andrew.]

Euphoracle @ Fri Feb 13, 2009 2:12 pm wrote:

Vertico @ Fri Feb 13, 2009 2:05 pm wrote:

This will be one of the things you tell your grandchildren about.

Time will end by then. (2038)

This is because they use a signed 32-bit integer right? So why don't we start switching to signed 64-bit integers now? Do 64-bit Unix operating systems use this, or is it still the 32-bit integer? Does it depend on the motherboard?

[ecookman]

i'm sorry, I have looked and have been confused as hell...what in the hell is the Unix Epoch SIMPLIFIED

[Insectoid]

Andrew, they haven't switched to 64-bit because it would break backwards compatibility with current software, which reads in 32-bit.

Unix Epoch is when the time on the Unix timekeeping system reads 1234567890 (or the binary equivalent, or something). Perhaps 1234567890 milliseconds from January 1st, 1970 (or whatever date that was)

[ecookman]

oh well i am so lucky..the Y2k and now this....sooo cool thanks insectoid.

[DemonWasp]

UNIX Epoch actually refers to the number of milliseconds since January 1st, 1970 (so you're close, insectoid). The reason for 1234567890-day is just because it's a cool number.

And yes, standard UNIX epoch runs out in 2038. We can't postpone the problem by making it a 32-bit unsigned integer because times are often used to represent differences between times, which means we need negative (which represents "before" as opposed to "after"). We also can't really switch to 64-bit immediately, since that'd break compatability, as insectoid notes.

This will probably result in either a time2 datatype (64-bit signed, which would last past the heat-death of the universe) or a time64 datatype, depending on who comes up with the name.

[saltpro15]

haha i looked at that today, that's somewhat funny

[Insectoid]

I thin computers will start storing 2 times- one in 32bit that will terminate in 2038, to support current software, and a 64bit, which new programs will start adhering to. So the old programs will run on the 32bit while new ones run on 64bit, and everyone's happy. After 2038 I'm sure there will there may be 32bit emulators that won't keep the correct time but will allow older programs to run.

[saltpro15]

by 2038... why the heck would you want to run 30 year old software ?