Computers are now an essential part of our daily lives, whether for personal use or work. One of the most infuriating things a computer user can face is a technical malfunction, also known as a computer “bug”. There was a story that is believed to be the origins of this term, suggesting it came from a real incident where an insect caused a computer to malfunction. But is there any truth to this?
Verdict:
FALSE
No, the term “bug” was actually part of engineering jargon in the late 19th century, long before electronics and digital computers existed. The famous inventor Thomas Edison even used the term in his works. In a short story published in 1944, author Isaac Asimov also made use of the term to describe a malfunctioning robot.
The widespread use of the term “bug” to describe computer malfunctions only started after an incident in 1947. The term also became popular in the post-war years.
A page from the Harvard Mark II electromechanical computer’s log, featuring a dead moth that was removed from the device.
The person responsible for the term “bug” being widely used today is computer scientist Grace Hopper. During the repair of Harvard University’s early computer, she found a moth trapped in one of the computer parts, which was causing the malfunction. She documented this discovery by taping the moth in her logbook and writing, “First actual case of a bug being found” underneath the moth.
Hopper’s discovery of the moth caught the interest of other computer programmers, leading them to start using the term “debugging” to describe the process of coding and correcting computers.
Since then, “bugs” and “debugging” have become commonplace in computer terminology.
References:
1. are-computer-errors-called-
4. “Chip bug versus chip bug” – https://www.flickr.com/
