Anniversary of the First Computer Bug

aheath writes "According to the US Naval Historical Center the first computer bug was logged on September 9, 1945 at 15:45: "Moth found trapped between points at Relay # 70, Panel F, of the Mark II Aiken Relay Calculator while it was being tested at Harvard University, 9 September 1945. The operators affixed the moth to the computer log, with the entry: "First actual case of bug being found". They put out the word that they had "debugged" the machine, thus introducing the term "debugging a computer program". The Wikipedia has a "computer bug" entry that lists some other "famous bugs" including the fictional HAL 9000 bug. What is your favorite computer bug story?"

Comments

"First actual case of bug being found"

[JohnGrahamCumming]

That language implies that this was not the first computer bug found, but more the first physical bug found. And hence it implies that the term "bug" was in use long before that time.

The The Jargon File covers this and includes a picture of the bug in the entry on "bug" and states:

Indeed, the use of bug to mean an industrial defect was already established in Thomas Edison's time, and a more specific and rather modern use can be found in an electrical handbook from 1896 (Hawkin's New Catechism of Electricity, Theo. Audel & Co.) which says: "The term 'bug' is used to a limited extent to designate any fault or trouble in the connections or working of electric apparatus." It further notes that the term is "said to have originated in quadruplex telegraphy and have been transferred to all electric apparatus."

John.

To Be Specific....

[Caraig]

To be specific, that first bug was recorded by future Admiral "Amazing" Grace Hopper, a (rare female) Line Navy officer (as opposed to a WAVE or Naval Reserve officer.) Her name has gone on to one of the most modern guided missile destroyers. She was quite a remarkable woman, read up on her career if you get the chance.

See TechTV for more

[arth1]

TechTV has some interesting stuff on this:

1. Twisted List: Five Computer Bugs That Changed the World
2. Famous Bugs: The First Computer Bug
3. Famous Bugs: The Funniest Computer Bug
4. Famous Bugs: The Most Tragic Computer Bug
5. Famous Bugs: The Most Embarrassing Computer Bug
6. Famous Bugs: The Most Famous Computer Bug

See TechTV for more details.

I still think the bug in converting between metric and imperial units causing a billion dollar Mars probe to crash is the top one.

Regards,
--
*Art

Re:R-A-I-D?!?!

[aridhol]

Sorry to reply to myself, but here's a link to the history of the term 'bug'.

Re:Best bug ever

[grub]

Here you go, with video.

Re:R-A-I-D?!?!

[gid]

The term "bug" in the technical sense was used long before that. That's just a famous episode of an actual bug causing a bug. Look at the history of the bug for more information.

Edison

[falsification]

Sorry, but "bug" is older.

From the OED:

b A defect or fault in a machine, plan, or the like. orig. U.S.

1889 Pall Mall Gaz. 11 Mar. 1/1 Mr. Edison, I was informed, had been up the two previous nights discovering `a bug' in his phonograph-an expression for solving a difficulty, and implying that some imaginary insect has secreted itself inside and is causing all the trouble.

Re:My Favorite Bug

[cK-Gunslinger]

.. the Theroy of Schrodinger's cat...where by if you put a cat in a box, its not truely dead until you look at it again...

That has got to be the most brief, yet entirely confusing description of that theory I've ever heard! =)

Some more facts may help clear up some confusion.

Re:R-A-I-D?!?!

[Zocalo]

Sorry. Hit "Submit" instead of "Preview". Fixed links (now *with* preview): Grace Hopper and Google

'Debugging' as term for 'finding errors' is older

[Qbertino]

The actuall real bug was taped into the book because it was an actual *real* bug. The Pun was intended back then aswell. The term debugging had been used earlier when debugging ENIAC (real bugs too) and finding unusual and nerving errors.

Re:It runs in the family...

[stripe]

Case #1: Computers failing due to overheating. Turned out the AC vents were clogged. Reason? Wasp nest clogging the AC vents, needed to debug the vents. From a friend that had to do the debugging. Case #2: Ants crawling into computer (Taught me not to eat while working on the insides of my PC) Had to clean out peanut butter & jelly from inside my keyboard once. Keys stuck too much. Case #3: Rats nests inside the computers chewing on cables etc. Big problem at one Texas co-lo. Had to replace all the ethernet cabling. From a site I was consulting at. Case #4: Little kid decides to feed the computer his milk. Milk stopped the computer from booting, but did not fry anything. Worked after we swabbed everything down with alcohol and washed the case off. A friend dropped off the computer for us to fix after finding out it did not work.

horror stories

[Fishstick]

>The Wikipedia has a "computer bug" entry that lists some other "famous bugs" including the fictional HAL 9000 bug.

Yeah, it lists them, but doesn't really link to good stories -- so...

An error in a single FORTRAN statement resulted in the loss of the first American probe to Venus.

Software reboot during the Apollo 11 landing forced Armstrong to manually land the lunar lander.

An Iraqi Scud missile hit Dhahran barracks, leaving 28 dead and 98 wounded. The incoming missile was not detected by the Patriot defenses, whose clock had drifted .36 seconds during the 4-day continuous siege, the error increasing with elapsed time since the system was turned on. This software flaw prevented real-time tracking. The specifications called for aircraft speeds, not Mach 6 missiles, for 14-hour continuous performance, not 100. Patched software arrived via air one day later.

The Ariane 5 satellite launcher malfunction was caused by a faulty software exception routine resulting from a bad 64-bit floating point to 16-bit integer conversion.

lots more here and here.