Editing OS/8 (section)

===OS/8 date format===
OS/8 allocates the PDP-8's 12 bit words for storing dates per:
* 4 bits for the month
* 5 bits for the date therein
* 3 bits for the year.{{efn|1970 to 1977.}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Directory of linctape-images/os8l/ps-8-system-25.linc |url=https://www.pdp8online.com/pdp8cgi/os8_html?act=dir;fn=linctape-images/os8l/ps%2D8%2Dsystem%2D25.linc;sort=name |website=Online PDP-8 Home Page |quote=This directory is in the format the OS/8 operating system uses. OS/8 can only store dates for an 8 year period so dates will be shown as 1970–1977 unless the media had a printed directory or other information find the correct date range.}}</ref>

The insufficiency of a three-bit year field, capable of storing only eight years, was recognized when [[Commercial Operating System (COS)|COS-310]] was developed.<ref name="Jones.cs">{{cite web |title=The Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-8: Frequently Asked Questions |url=http://homepage.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/pdp8/faqs |quote=COS-310 was a derivative of MS/8 and OS/8, but with a new text file format. The file system is almost the same as OS/8, but dates are recorded differently[...].}}</ref>