Two Digits for a Date
(to the tune of "Gilligan's Island" )
Just sit right back and
you'll hear a tale
Of the doom that is our
fate.
That started when programmers
used
Two digits for a date.
Two digits for a date.
Main memory was smaller
then;
Hard disks were smaller,
too.
"Four digits are extravagant,
So let's get by with two.
So let's get by with two."
"This works through 1999,"
The programmers did say.
"Unless we rewrite before
that
It all will go away."
But Management had not a
clue:
"It works fine now, you
bet!
A rewrite is a straight
expense;
We won't do it just yet.
We won't do it just yet."
Now when 2000 rolls around
It all goes straight to
@#%&,
For zero's less than ninety-nine,
As anyone can tell.
As anyone can tell.
The mail won't bring your
pension check
It won't be sent to you
When you're no longer sixty-eight,
But minus thirty-two.
But minus thirty-two.
The problems we're about
to face
Are frightening, for
sure.
And reading every line of
code's
The only certain cure.
The only certain cure.
(key change, big finish)
There's not much time,
There's too much code.
(And Cobol-coders, few)
When the century is finished
with,
We may be finished, too.
We may be finished,
too.
Eight thousand years from now I hope
That things weren't left
too late,
And people aren't then lamenting
Four digits for a date
Four digits for a date.
