Stardates Explained - 20010430.1056

You don't understand the startdates?

Take, for example, 20010430.1056

Let me stick some spaces in some helpful places:

2001 04 30 . 10 56

That better?

20010430 means 30th April 2001, and 1056 is in 24-hour clock format, IE 10:56AM

Stardates in the Star Trek universe work in an entirely different way. Wikipedia has a good explanation on how Stardates work.