# Did You Know Today Is 'The Day of the Programmer'? **URL:** \ **Category:** News & Articles\ **Tags:** programming\ **Created:** [September 13, 2020, 10:49pm UTC](https://onehack.st/t/did-you-know-today-is-the-day-of-the-programmer/109115 "2020-09-13T22:49:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Astrid](https://onehack.st/user_avatar/onehack.st/astrid/32/174869_2.png) [@Astrid](https://onehack.st/u/Astrid)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2020, 10:49pm UTC](https://onehack.st/t/did-you-know-today-is-the-day-of-the-programmer/109115/1 "2020-09-13T22:49:10Z")
![image](https://onehack.st/uploads/default/original/3X/2/c/2c2511d9d31b64f703ce01578c494f68ea691503.jpeg) Long-time Slashdot reader [destinyland](https://developers.slashdot.org/~destinyland) shares Wikipedia’s entry reminding us that this year’s “Day of the Programmer” falls on September 13: _The [Day of the Programmer](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_the_Programmer) is an international professional day that is celebrated on the 256th (hexadecimal 100th, or the 2\*\*8th) day of each year (September 13 during common years and on September 12 in leap years). It is officially recognized in Russia._ The number 256 (2\*\*8) was chosen because it is the number of distinct values that can be represented with a byte, a value well known to programmers… _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 210. It is also consistent regardless of leap years._ The [original submission](https://slashdot.org/submission/12355314/did-you-know-today-is-the-day-of-the-programmer) suggests we celebrate with "[this delightful acoustic version](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CuOMpoY96Y) of [Code Monkey](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEBld6I_AKs), which songwriter Jonathan Coulton describes as “how it feels to write software for a living.” But did any Slashdot readers even _know_ today was The Day of the Programmer?