On this day in 1947 a moth was found in a computer, which was funny because people had already been using "bug" for a computer glitch.
Show this thread
-
The OED says the first printed use of "bug" in the sense of glitch was in the Pall Mall Gazette in 1889.
Show this thread
That article was about Edison looking for one. He used the term in notebooks in 1876. http://theinstitute.ieee.org/tech-history/technology-history/did-you-know-edison-coined-the-term-bug … (via @BertCattoor)
-
-
And so dies a good myth... Where does the term "to iron bugs out of" come from?
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
-
-
-
In this vein, I wonder when "It's not a bug, it's a feature" went mainstream. I've seen Paul Krugman and others use it.
-
"That's not a bug, it's a moth" would be an appropriately pedantic retort for CS-types with knowledge of entomology.
End of conversation
New conversation -
-
-
If the term wasn't widespread before computers perhaps it was independently 'rediscovered'?
-
It was widespread. The people who found the moth were already using it. That's why they thought it was funny to find a literal bug.
End of conversation
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.