LYT (Leap Year Topic) >> After Y2K, Brace For Leap Year (Phillipines)

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February 12, 2000

AFTER Y2K, BRACE FOR LEAP YEAR GLITCH

Now computers must be "leap year compliant."

The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) urged the public yesterday to check if the dates in their computers will automatically roll over from Feb. 28 to 29.

Before the so-called "Y2K bug" caught the world's attention, experts predicted that computer systems that would read the year 2000 as 1900 would be able to count only 28 days of this month, notwithstanding that 1900 was a leap year like the year 2000.

In the Christian calendar, any year that is divisible evenly by four is a leap year.

When "non-leap year compliant" systems skip Feb. 29, they may cause confusion in date-sensitive data like sales ledgers, sorting of accounts, expired and overdue status, time clocks, spreadsheet and database date formats using two digits.

Experts said the bureaucracy should watch out for aging software, including customized payroll and accounts, loan data, analysis, taxation, and forecasting.

Recent reports, mostly from the United States, said that analysts are apprehensive that as high as 80 to 90 percent of "Y2K"-related problems might show up in the coming weeks as governments and businesses worldwide ease up to normal operations.

But the DOST expects the leap year roll over to create only a "mild shake" in the country's computer-dependent sectors.

Gerardo Doroja, a DOST deputy director, explained that technical remedial work done among the country's critical sectors, particularly the core 391 government and private organizations, stretched to the leap year roll over.

"Technically, there is no reason to worry even if 2000 is a leap year ... since very few computers will fail to reckon that the year 2000 is a leap year," he said.

He said the Philippine Y2K Readiness Act requires that "data based functionality" must be consistent for dates before, during and after the year 2000.

As for personal computers, their operating systems "would nudge or instruct real time clock installed in PCs to follow correct century digits," resulting in automatic century digit correction, he added.

Doroja said most computers and automated control systems are designed to handle only two-digit year formats that could possibly result in errors or malfunctions when "00" appears on the date field.--Mayen Jaymalin

http://www.philstar.com/datedata/d12_feb12/index.htm

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), February 19, 2000

Answers

Your "news" is over a week old.

Every year since 1904 has been a leap year. The year 2000 is a leap year. (All years divided by 400 with no remainder are leap years.)

All computers since 1953 have been programmed to assume any year evenly divisable by 4 is a leap year. This will be valid until the year 2100, which is NOT a leap year.

So, any worries about leap years are about 99 years and 2 month away.

-- (.@...), February 19, 2000.


By the way, Dee:

Who cares about a computer in the Phillipines.

90 percent of Americans can't find the Phillipines on a world map.

-- (.@...), February 19, 2000.


Thanks for the post Dee.

here's what US NAVY is doing re: leap year.

Subject: LEAP YEAR Y2K CONSEQUENCE MANAGEMENT

2.A. DURING THE RAMPUP FOR Y2K, MORE FAILURES WERE NOTED DURING THE LEAP YEAR TESTS THAN THE END OF YEAR TESTS. HOWEVER, IN LIGHT OF THE MINIMAL IMPACT WORLDWIDE DURING THE Y2K TRANSITION, IT IS NOT EXPECTED THAT THE LEAP YEAR TRANSITION WILL PRODUCE ANY SIGNIFICANT INFRASTRUCTURE FAILURES. 2.B. NEVER THE LESS, PRUDENT PLANNING REQUIRES THAT WE CONTINUE TO BE VIGILANT, AND THEREFORE DOMS WILL BE LEANING FORWARD READY TO HANDLE ANY SUPPORT REQUESTS FROM CIVIL AUTHORITIES DURING THE LEAP YEAR PERIOD.

MEDIA INTEREST IS NOT EXPECTED TO BE SIGNIFICANT. AS APPROPRIATE, PUBLIC AFFAIRS ACTIVITIES ARE ENCOURAGED TO TALK OPENLY ABOUT Y2K PREPARATIONS AND CAPABILITIES, CONSISTENT WITH INFORMATION SECURITY AND OPERATIONS SECURITY CONSTRAINTS.

CARE SHOULD BE TAKEN NOT TO PUBLICLY DESCRIBE AS "Y2K-RELATED" ANY COMPUTER MALFUNCTION OCCURRING DURING THE LEAP YEAR TURNOVER PERIOD UNTIL THE INCIDENT IS VERIFIED TO BE AN ACTUAL Y2K PROBLEM.

http://hv.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=002Zyy

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), February 19, 2000.


Dee thanks for the info. Ignore the trolls and keep it comming. heres to a job well done.

-- David Whitelaw (Dande53484@aol.com), February 19, 2000.

Thanks for the input Carl and David. =)

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), February 19, 2000.


...90 percent of Americans can't find the Phillipines on a world map...

Which, oddly enough, is about the same percentage of Americans who can't spell "Philippines."

-- (Nitpicker@Proofreaders.R.Us), February 19, 2000.


Too bad the Philippines weren't a former *British* colony. Then they'd have had the correct Gregorian calendar leap year rules set out for them in the Calendar Act of 1751.

Hmmm ... but the Philippines *were* a U.S. colony, and the U.S. is a former British colony, so someone should have gotten it straight.

Oh, wait ... what was the Philippines' status in 1900? If the U.S. hadn't taken over by then, and Filipinos were still using the calendar used in Spain ... but, but -- hadn't Spain already converted to the Gregorian calendar before 1900?

> experts predicted that computer systems that would read the year 2000 as 1900 would be able to count only 28 days of this month, notwithstanding that 1900 was a leap year like the year 2000.

No, 1900 was NOT a leap year in the Gregorian calendar. February 1900 had only 28 days.

>In the Christian calendar, any year that is divisible evenly by four is a leap year.

Not in the Gregorian calendar (named for a Christian Pope Gregory) used by practically all the "Christian" world now. Perhaps the author is thinking of the liturgical calendar used by the Eastern Orthodox Church, which I think is still using the Julian calendar's leap-year-every-4th-year-without-exception rule?

-- No Spam Please (nos_pam_please@hotmail.com), February 19, 2000.


LOL nitpicker good call

-- David Whitelaw (Dande53484@aol.com), February 19, 2000.

Interesting post No Spam.

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), February 19, 2000.

I must have missed this in grammar school. When is every fourth year not a leap year? Why was 1900 not a leap year. I thought every election year was also a leap year. Someone help explain this to me?

-- canthappen (n@ysayer.com), February 20, 2000.


canthappen- When the Julian calendar was replaced with the Gregorian calendar, a simple rule was replaced by a more complex rule. The simple rule asserted by Julius Caesar was as follows: 3 years containing 365 days and 1 year containing 366 days. The more complex rule asserted by Pope Gregory was as follows: A leap year would not fall on any century year(i.e 1900) unless that year were divisible by 400. 1800 was not, 1900 was not, however, 2000 is.

-- NoJo (RSKeiper@aol.com), February 20, 2000.

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