Russia’s president, Dmitry Medvedev, has decreed a new holiday for his country: Programmer’s Day. Appropriately enough, it will be celebrated on the 256th day of the year: September 13th (September 12th for a leap year).

Unofficially Programmer’s Day celebrated in the world for many years at the 256th day of each year. The number 256 is chosen because it is the number of integers that can be expressed using a single eight-byte, and also is the maximum degree of 2, which is less than 365.