Code: Y2k

Or rather, nothing catastrophic happened. But that “nothing” was actually one of the most expensive and successful engineering projects in human history. Here is the real story of the bug that almost broke the world. To understand Y2K, you have to think like a programmer from the 1970s. Computer memory and storage were incredibly expensive. Storing data was like paying for liquid gold.

And that is the quietest form of heroism there is. In 2038, we might have to do it all over again. Hopefully, we’ll remember the lesson: The bug is real. The fix is just boring. y2k code

As the ball dropped in Times Square on December 31, 1999, the world held its breath. It wasn’t just champagne corks people were worried about. In bunkers and data centers from Tokyo to Topeka, teams of programmers watched glowing screens, waiting for a ghost. Or rather, nothing catastrophic happened

The reason the world didn’t end is that we worked incredibly hard to save it. To understand Y2K, you have to think like

The logic worked perfectly until the clock ticked over to the year 2000. Suddenly, "00" wouldn't mean 1900. It wouldn't even mean 2000. To a computer, "00" was a glitch—a mathematical void.