Day of the Programmer 2021
I identify as a "computer person". I typically work with hardware, software, and media in any combination to achieve the ends of that enterprise in which I find myself assuming a support role. More often than not, these duties involve a heavy amount of programming because coding is an integral part of the computing environment.My working background consists of heavy LAN, WAN, client-server, AI, 4GLs, and expert systems. I presently work in coldfusion, lucee, javascript, perl, and prefer command line interfaces over GUIs. My technical beginnings are rooted in PL/1 and the various xBase dialects until microsoft ruined all of those by buying and suppressing Foxpro in favor of their lamer dotnet mess.
I am what is known as "old school". I was trained in the late 1970s through the early 1980s to believe that if you do not code, you are not a "real" computer person. Nowadays, there are many working in the field of information technology who cannot code. Old school proponents of technology such as myself are likely to scoff at them and view them as "unskilled" interlopers into the field.
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Today is the Day of the Programmer. It is a professional recognition day held annually on the 256th or the 28th day of each year. This equates to September 13 during common years and September 12 during leap years.
It is officially recognized in Russia. Not so much here in the United States.
The date chosen is a function of numerology utilized in coding. The number 256 (28) was chosen because it is the number of distinct values that can be represented with a byte, a value well known to programmers. 256 is also the highest power of two that is less than 365, the number of days in a common year.
This particular day was proposed by software company employees Valentin Balt and Michael Cherviakov. They tried to gather signatures for a petition to the government of Russia to recognize the day as the official Day of the Programmer from around 2002.
The Russian Ministry of Communications and Mass Media issued a draft of an executive order on a new professional holiday, Day of the Programmer on July 24, 2009. The President of Russia, one Dmitry Medvedev, signed the decree the following September 11th.
In China, programmer's day is October 24. This has been established for many years. The date was chosen because it can also be written as 1024, which is equal to 210. In the real life, 1024 usually considered a thousand. It is also consistent regardless of leap years. Unfortunately the chinese computer people by and large are unscrupulous and immoral and will steal any and all intellectual property of which they may come into contact. This is why they should not be allowed into the United States.
Regardless of your technical status in the field of information technology, performing operations in the absence of coding makes you a lesser entity in the field from the standpoint of we old school practitioners and workers therein. Though the evolution of the IT department is leaning toward acceptance of the non coding worker, they will always be viewed as technically deficient to many ... until we all die off.
Happy Day of the Programmer to you too.