Programmer's Day, also known as the Day of the Programmer, is a professional day that is celebrated in
Russian Federation on the 256th (
hexadecimal
In mathematics and computing, the hexadecimal (also base-16 or simply hex) numeral system is a positional numeral system that represents numbers using a radix (base) of 16. Unlike the decimal system representing numbers using 10 symbols, hexa ...
100th, or the 2
8th) day of each year (September 13 during
common year
A common year is a calendar year with 365 days, as distinguished from a leap year, which has 366. More generally, a common year is one without intercalation. The Gregorian calendar (like the earlier Julian calendar) employs both common years ...
s and on September 12 in
leap years).
The number
256
Year 256 ( CCLVI) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Claudius and Glabrio (or, less frequently, year 1009 ''Ab urbe condi ...
(2
8) was chosen because it is the number of distinct values that can be represented with a
byte, a value well known to
programmer
A computer programmer, sometimes referred to as a software developer, a software engineer, a programmer or a coder, is a person who creates computer programs — often for larger computer software.
A programmer is someone who writes/creates ...
s. 256 is also the highest power of two that is less than 365, the number of days in a common year.
Official recognition
This particular day was proposed by Valentin Balt and Michael Cherviakov (aka htonus), employees of Parallel Technologies (a software company). As early as 2002, they tried to gather signatures for a petition to the
government of Russia
The Government of Russia exercises executive power in the Russian Federation. The members of the government are the prime minister, the deputy prime ministers, and the federal ministers. It has its legal basis in the Constitution of the Russia ...
to recognize the day as the official Day of the Programmer.
On July 24, 2009, the
Ministry of Communications and Mass Media (Russia) issued a draft of an executive order on a new
professional holiday, Day of the Programmer.
On September 11, 2009,
President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev
Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev ( rus, links=no, Дмитрий Анатольевич Медведев, p=ˈdmʲitrʲɪj ɐnɐˈtolʲjɪvʲɪtɕ mʲɪdˈvʲedʲɪf; born 14 September 1965) is a Russian politician who has been serving as the dep ...
signed the decree.
Criticism
Due to
Russian invasion of Ukraine, members of the Ukrainian IT community have proposed to boycott this holiday.
Chinese Programmer's Day
In China, the programmer's day is October 24, which has been established for many years.
The date was chosen because it can also be written as 1024, which is equal to 2
10 and corresponds to the Ki
binary prefix. It is also a consistent date regardless of leap years.
See also
*
World Information Society Day
*
System Administrator Appreciation Day
System Administrator Appreciation Day, also known as Sysadmin Day, SysAdminDay, is an annual event created by system administrator Ted Kekatos. The event exists to show appreciation for the work of sysadmins and other IT workers. It is celebrat ...
*
Secretary's Day
References
Sources
*{{Cite Russian law
, ru_entity=Президент Российской Федерации
, ru_type=Указ
, ru_number=1034
, ru_date=11 сентября 2009 г.
, ru_title=О дне программиста
, ru_effective_date=11 сентября 2009 г.
, ru_published_in="Российская Газета", №172
, ru_published_date=15 сентября 2009 г.
, ru_url=http://www.consultant.ru/online/base/?req=doc;base=LAW;n=91490
, en_entity=
President of the Russian Federation
, en_type=Decree
, en_number=1034
, en_date=September 11, 2009
, en_title=On the Day of the Programmer
, en_effective_date=September 11, 2009
, en_url=https://www.elektrolab.eu/blog/dnes-je-svetovy-den-programatorov
Observances in Russia
September observances
Autumn events in Russia
Computing culture