Programmer’s Day in China Date in the current year: October 24, 2024

Computer programmers, also known as simply programmers, coders, software developers or software engineers, are professionals who create computer programs by using various programming languages. Most programmers know multiple programming languages; the absolute minimum is two (one frontend, one backend), but a good programmer typically learns at least five.

British mathematician and author Ada Lovelace is generally considered to be the first computer programmer. In 1842, she published an algorithm for Charles Babbage’s analytical engine. Unfortunately, Lovelace never saw her algorithm in action because Babbage did not complete construction of his machine.

The ENIAC programming team are considered the first regular computer programmers. The team consisted exclusively of women: Fran Bilas, Betty Jennings, Ruth Lichterman, Kay McNulty, Marlyn Meltzer, and Betty Snyder.

The software industry began to develop in the 1950s; the first company to market computer software was Computer Usage Company, founded in 1955. Software development has gone a long way since then. It is an integral part of the industry, science, and the modern world in general, so it is not surprising that computer programmers enjoy immense respect and even have their own professional holiday.

Arguably the most popular date of Programmer’s Day is September 13 in common years and September 12 in leap years, i.e. the 256th day or the year. The choice of the date symbolizes the number of distinct values that can be represented with a byte – a unit of information that consists of eight bits.

The September 12/13 celebration of Programmer’s Day was proposed by two Russian programmers in 2002, so it is mostly celebrated in Russia, where it became an official holiday in 2009, and its neighboring countries. Ukrainian programmers have proposed to boycott it due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Chinese programmers have chosen another date for their professional holiday, October 24 (10/24). It can be written as 1024 (2 to the tenth power), which corresponds to the Ki (kibi) binary prefix. Unlike Russian Programmer’s Day, this date does not depend on whether the year is common or leap.

When an online discussion of the date took place, some users proposed the date of October 10 (10/10) to represent the digits 0 and 1 of the binary number system. However, it didn’t receive enough support, and the date of October 24 was chosen instead.

Chinese Programmer’s Day has been celebrated every October 24 since at least 2010. On the occasion of the holiday, Chinese IT companies and Chinese offices of international IT companies organize exhibitions, technology conferences, workshops, marathons, coding competitions, awards ceremonies, and other events to thank programmers for everything they do and give them an opportunity to exchange ideas.