16. An article of manufacture comprising a computer program carrier readable by a computer and embodying one or more instructions executable by the computer to perform method steps of programming a computer, the method comprising the steps of: providing a data declaration extension syntax, wherein the syntax comprises use of DATE-FORMAT to identify the data declaration extension to a compiler and provides keywords for identifying one of a plurality of windowing techniques and provides fields for specifying ranges of years; receiving a series of programming language statements comprising a source program into a memory of the computer, wherein at least one of the received statements comprises a data declaration extension requesting a Year 2000 solution selected from a plurality of windowing techniques, and wherein the data declaration extension is in a format of the provided data declaration extension syntax; and compiling the source program into an object program in the memory of the computer, wherein the object program includes instructions for processing and/or invoking the Year 2000 solution requested in the data declaration.
16. An article of manufacture comprising a computer program carrier readable by a computer and embodying one or more instructions executable by the computer to perform method steps of programming a computer, the method comprising the steps of: providing a data declaration extension syntax, wherein the syntax comprises use of DATE-FORMAT to identify the data declaration extension to a compiler and provides keywords for identifying one of a plurality of windowing techniques and provides fields for specifying ranges of years; receiving a series of programming language statements comprising a source program into a memory of the computer, wherein at least one of the received statements comprises a data declaration extension requesting a Year 2000 solution selected from a plurality of windowing techniques, and wherein the data declaration extension is in a format of the provided data declaration extension syntax; and compiling the source program into an object program in the memory of the computer, wherein the object program includes instructions for processing and/or invoking the Year 2000 solution requested in the data declaration. 20. An article as recited in claim 16, wherein said step of compiling comprises the steps of: recognizing said at least one statement comprising a data declaration extension requesting a Year 2000 solution; recognizing at least one source program statement which involves the processing of date items in data fields affected by said data declaration extension; and generating object program instructions for performing operations on data fields associated with the data declaration extension in a manner that employs the requested Year 2000 solution.