Programmer Day FAQ

This is the original FAQ, please see the current Programmer Day FAQ

Q: When is Programmer Day?

A: Programmer Day is the 256th day of every year, September 13th or the 12th on leap years.

Q:Why the 256th Day of the year?

A: A byte can have 256 possible values, bytes are very important to programmers. Not because they are required for programs to work, but because the payroll system and Krispy Kreme doughnut cash registers require them.

Q: How is Programmer Day celebrated?

A: The Knight Knetwork suggests the following:

  • Eat all the doughnuts by the end of the day - There are no zeros in a full byte!
  • Eat your doughnuts in one “full byte” or two “full nybbles“
  • Pull out your fake Christmas tree and decorate it with zeros and ones to make a binary tree (CDs and sticks of RAM make good zeros and ones)
  • Make Happy Programmer Day cards using ASCII art
  • Keep track throughout the day and the person with the best binary pun/programming language joke gets a prize (the last doughnut maybe)

Q: Your logo has 1111 1111 that’s 255, not 256, isn’t that a pretty big mistake?

A: While 1111 1111 = 255 as a direct conversion, it’s the 256th value so it is correct.  January 1st is 0000 0000 so if you celebrate Programmer Day on the 255th day you’re guilty of an off by one error.