Why Is a Computer Glitch Called A Bug?!
Working and living in an online environment, we come across bugs everyday. Not the harmless ones with wings, but the nasty bugs that delete our entire assignments and overwrite our most important documents! Why are "bugs" called "bugs" though? We solve the mysteries of the internet, here.
By Mei Mei Chu — 27 Aug 2013, 06:43 PM — Updated almost 11 years ago
Initially people thought the word came from the Welsh word "bwg"
Some people say the word “bug” comes from the old English (Welsh) word “bwg”, which meant a problem or a difficulty; later, it was used to describe defects with machines and then with computers.
But actually, the first computer bug was caused by a real bug!
In 1947, Grace Murray Hopper was working on the Harvard University Mark II Aiken Relay Calculator (a primitive computer).
jamesshuggins.comOn the 9th of September, 1947, when the machine was experiencing problems, an investigation showed that there was a moth trapped between the points of Relay #70, in Panel F.
jamesshuggins.comIn 1945, Harvard University operators removed a moth fouling the guts of a primitive computer called the Mark II Aiken Relay Calculator. They taped it to that day’s log book with the entry: “First actual case of bug being found.”
Thanks to Grace Hopper and the dead moth for coining the term
Ask someone to identify the first computer bug, and he or she might mention computer programmer Grace Hopper and the dead moth found in a relay of Harvard University’s Mark II electromechanical computer in 1947.
Besides bugs, there are also "worms", "bait" and "goat"
Bugs aren’t the only critters in computers, though. “Worm” describes a virus that contaminates computer networks, and some anti-virus software boasts “bait” or “goat” files that flush out viruses.
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