Why do timestamps have a limit to 2038?

Question

I just found out, running a calendar script, that timestamps in PHP has a limit to 2038. What does it really mean? Why is it 2038 instead of 2050 or 2039? Why a limit if tim

Answer 1

my guess is that it is stored in a fixed number of bits, which means a limit on how big the timestamp can get. We could do some math to figure it out exactly.