A To Z Challenge: Horology And How Your Computer May Be Going To Spaz

  © Copyright Peter Trimming and licensed for
reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

Horology is the science of measuring time and the study of making timepieces. Humans have been working at the definition and measurement of time for thousands of years; as early as 3100 BCE the Egyptians had developed a 365-day calendar based on the appearance of the star Sirius in the sky and around 3500 BCE they had developed obelisks that acted as sundials. Technology has come a very long way since large angular pillars stuck in the ground, and our current idea of a "clock"--a steady mechanism capable of standing on its own--began to emerge in 1656 when Christiaan Huygens developed the first pendulum clock.

Taking another rather large leap forward in time, today's computers (whether PC or Apple or what have you) are running on what's known as Unix Time. (The name "Unix" comes from the fact it was a dominant operating system back when computing was just getting started.) It's based on a 32-bit number and has been counting every second since January 1, 1970.

Once the number reaches 2,147,483,764, however, there's a bit of a problem: When a 32-bit number reaches this value, it can no longer count upwards. Because of this, computers using Unix Time will revert to December 13, 1901 once time hits January 19, 2038, i.e. devices will believe it's the 1900s when it's actually the mid-2000s. The solution? Switch to 64-bit systems, which will run out of values in the year 292,277,026,596.

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Sources:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/horology
http://www.horology.com/vir-lib-horology.htm
http://www.nist.gov/pml/general/time/index.cfm
http://www.unixtimestamp.com/index.php

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Is your computer a 32-bit? Do you think there will be any major problems in 2038, or do you think all the important devices will have been replaced with 64-bit by then?


-----The Golden Eagle