Y2K bug
Year-two-thousand problem
The Y2K bug was a computer flaw stemming from the widespread practice of representing years with only two digits—storing 1999 as "99." As the year 2000 approached, programmers feared systems would interpret "00" as 1900, causing failures in banking, aviation, and infrastructure.
Massive remediation efforts preceded the millennium, and the anticipated catastrophe largely didn't materialize—leading some to dismiss the threat as overblown and others to credit the preparation.
The term now evokes both the anxieties of that era and debates about technological doomsaying.
Elderly business-oriented programming language
- mainframeLarge centralized computer system
- rolloverVehicle flipping accident
- firmwareHardware's permanent programming
- complianceAdhering to requirements
remediation · patch · binary · byte · timestamp · database · programming · testing
Span of thousand years
- turn-of-the-centuryTime near 1900 or 2000
- 1999Final twentieth-century year
- countdownBackward enumeration to zero
- epochDistinct historical period
transition · era · zeitgeist · retrospective · hindsight · non-event · anticlimactic · overhyped
Uncontrollable emotional excess
- fearmongeringDeliberately spreading exaggerated threats
- alarmismNeedless raising of fears
- stockpilingAccumulating supplies in quantity
- hoardingExcessive accumulation of goods
survivalism · preppers · doomsday · apocalypse · paranoia · anxiety · catastrophizing · bunker
Formally advised against using
- outdatedNo longer in use
- antiquatedOld and outdated
- FORTRANScientific programming language
- retrocomputingInterest in obsolete technology
COBOL
Elderly business-oriented programming language
- mainframeLarge centralized computer system
- rolloverVehicle flipping accident
- firmwareHardware's permanent programming
compliance · remediation · patch · binary · byte · timestamp · database · programming · testing · certification
millennium
Span of thousand years
- turn-of-the-centuryTime near 1900 or 2000
- 1999Final twentieth-century year
- countdownBackward enumeration to zero
epoch · transition · era · zeitgeist · retrospective · hindsight · non-event · anticlimactic · overhyped · post-mortem
hysteria
Uncontrollable emotional excess
- fearmongeringDeliberately spreading exaggerated threats
- alarmismNeedless raising of fears
- stockpilingAccumulating supplies in quantity
hoarding · survivalism · preppers · doomsday · apocalypse · paranoia · anxiety · catastrophizing · bunker · generator
deprecated
Formally advised against using
- outdatedNo longer in use
- antiquatedOld and outdated
- FORTRANScientific programming language
- 90sTamagotchi, pogs, Furby, slap bracelets, Tickle Me Elmo
- Computing HistoryENIAC, UNIVAC, mainframe, mainframes, punch card
- Y2K/MillenniumSydney fireworks