>> The C documentation says it can contain dates up to January 18, 2038, 19:14:07.
What timezone was that documentation for ?
Main Topics
Browse All TopicsMy curiosity recently brought me to analyse what is the exact nature of the 2038 date problem.
Well as you all probably know, it comes from the limitation in the C standard library type 'time_t' which is usually defined as a 32 bits signed integer.
The time_t type is defined by the C standard to contain "the number of seconds elapsed since January 1, 1970, 00:00:00". The C documentation says it can contain dates up to January 18, 2038, 19:14:07.
But when I calculate the number of seconds a 32 bits signed integer can contain, I come to the number 2147483647, which is 24855 days, 3 hours, 14 minutes and 7 seconds. Adding this value to January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 gives the following date: January 19, 2038, 03:14:07
So how can you explain the difference between the C documentation date and the calculated date ?
This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.
Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.
If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.
Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.
Access the answers to your technology questions today.
30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.
Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Try it out and discover for yourself.
30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.
Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.
Well I found all the explanations here :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
Thanks for your comments
Business Accounts
Answer for Membership
by: jkrPosted on 2008-06-18 at 11:24:07ID: 21815581
Are you sure you included all leap years correctly in your calculation?