Utilizing Epoch Time for Efficient Date Storage and the Y2K 2038 Problem

Epoch time, the number of seconds elapsed since January 1st 1970, provides a convenient way to store time as an integer. Converting dates to epoch time is beneficial for saving and accessing dates in databases. However, a potential issue, known as the 2038 problem, arises due to the representation of epoch time as a 32-bit integer, causing overflow and breaking epoch times on January 19th, 2038. To address this, many systems have transitioned to 64-bit integers for defining epoch time. JavaScript, on the other hand, stores epoch time as 16-bit floating point numbers, thus avoiding the 2038 problem. Consequently, JavaScript has been updated to handle epoch time effectively without being affected by the 2038 problem.