Day of the Programmer

The Day of the Programmer (in Russian: День программиста) is an international professional day recognized in many technology companies and programming firms, that is celebrated on the 256th (hexadecimal 100th, or the 2⁸th) day of each year (September 13 during common years and on September 12 in leap years). It is officially recognized in Russia.^[1][2]

The number 256 (2⁸) was chosen because it is the number of distinct values that can be represented with an eight-bit byte, a value well-known to programmers.^[3] 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, employees of Parallel Technologies (a software company). As early as 2002, they tried to gather signatures for a petition to the government of Russia to recognize the day as the official Day of the Programmer.^[4]

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.^[5][6]

On September 11, 2009, President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev signed the decree.^[2][7]

See also

• World Information Society Day
• System Administrator Appreciation Day
• Public holidays in Russia
• Secretary's Day

References

1. Decree #1034
2. "Dmitry Medvedev issued an executive order establishing a new professional holiday, the Day of the Programmer.". Kremlin.ru. 2009-09-12. Retrieved 2009-09-12. Day of the Programmer will be celebrated on the 256th day of each year, that is on September 13 or 12 depending on whether the year is a leap year.
3. "Президент России подписал указ об утверждении Дня программиста". Archived from the original on 2009-09-14.
4. «Праздник 256-го дня»
5. «У программистов может появиться свой официальный праздник»
6. "Ъ-Новости - Российские программисты получат профессиональный праздник". Kommersant.ru. Archived from the original on 2012-06-30. Retrieved 2011-09-13.
7. Президент России подписал указ об утверждении Дня программиста

Sources

• Президент Российской Федерации. Указ №1034 от 11 сентября 2009 г. «О дне программиста». Вступил в силу 11 сентября 2009 г.. Опубликован: "Российская Газета", №172, 15 сентября 2009 г.. (President of the Russian Federation. Decree #1034 of September 11, 2009 On the Day of the Programmer. Effective as of September 11, 2009.).