6 ms·

First actual computer bug was found today, 66 years ago

170 points by morphics 13y ago

eli 13y ago
I really like this clip of Grace Hopper on Letterman in the mid 80s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-vcErOPofQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-vcErOPofQ
- joe5150 13y ago
  "How did you know so much about computers then?" "I didn't. It was the first one." Brilliant.
  - laumars 13y ago
    I thought the Colossus which was ran at Bletchley Park -also during WWII- was the "first" computer. Was the Colossus still classified when that interview was conducted or is this a case of different "firsts" (eg Colossus being the first electrical computer, but Harvard Mark I (I think they said she was the operator of) was the first computer of another specification?
    - joe5150 13y ago
      She said something about Mark I being the first such computer in the United States, but I think the gist is true anyway, that people employed at least in the practical aspects of computing at that time were learning a lot as they went along.
      - laumars 13y ago
        Oh totally. And each computer was significantly different so while some knowledge was transferable, a lot may not have been. Sorry if it came across as if I was undermining Graces achievements. I really didn't mean it that way at all. I was just enquiring about the classifications of early 'computers' and which came first as computers back then differed quite substantially from now and even from each other, so you get several different machines that claim to be the 'first' for various different reasons.
    - leoc 13y ago
      It's largely a toss-up, as neither was fully Turing-complete. In principle Zuse's Z3 completed in 1941 was fully programmable, but no-one realised it at the time, and writing arbitrary programs on it involves using a hack which apparently wouldn't have been suitable for real use anyway. (Nonetheless, Zuse had started work on his high-level language http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plankalk%C3%BCl http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plankalk%C3%BCl during the war.) The earlier Bell Labs machines and the ABC weren't fully programmable either. Babbage's Analytical Engine would have been Turing-complete but had never been built. The old Computer Museum documentary Computer Pioneers - Pioneer Computers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qundvme1Tik&list=PL14396C9538B4C234 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qundvme1Tik&list=PL14396C9538... is pretty good.
- nicholassmith 13y ago
  That's fantastic, thanks for posting it here.
jgrahamc 13y ago
It's a nice story, but for an even earlier bug look at the first 'program' written by Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage. In one of Lovelace's letters to Babbage she mentions finding errors in their 'table and diagram' (the program): http://i.imgur.com/zxOya1n.png http://i.imgur.com/zxOya1n.png
- ChrisClark 13y ago
  That's why it says, "first actual case of bug being found". The term bug was used before, even before Ada. Grace Hopper talks about the situation as humorous because they found an 'actual' bug this time.
palebluedot 13y ago
Very interesting - I've heard of this story before, but this was the first time I've seen an image of the notes, with the bug taped on it. It is odd the phrasing used, in the original note: "first actual case of bug being found". That makes me think of a couple of things: 1. Perhaps some of them were already referring to program errors as "bugs", or 2. They suspected before that bugs in the relays may be the cause of errors, but this is the first time it was confirmed. A bit off-topic, but not too much: my kids, and all their friends, do not refer to programs or games as having "bugs" or being "buggy". The vernacular they all use (5th grade up through 9th grade) is "glitch"; e.g. the game has a glitch, or this program is glitchy, etc. I don't think I've heard them say "bug" very often, if at all, and I wonder if this is a new trend wider than just my kids and their immediate peers.
- arnarbi 13y ago
  > 1. Perhaps some of them were already referring to program errors as "bugs" This. Engineers talked about "bugs" even before the time of computers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_bug#Etymology http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_bug#Etymology
  - scoggs 13y ago
    Edison was one of the first, if not the first. http://theinstitute.ieee.org/technology-focus/technology-history/did-you-know-edison-coined-the-term-bug http://theinstitute.ieee.org/technology-focus/technology-his...
    - pkfrank 13y ago
      This is confirmed in The Etymologicon: http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Etymologicon.html?id=U0zav6EgOwYC http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Etymologicon.html?id...
- JonnieCache 13y ago
  "Glitch" is the standard word in the world of video games, and as you might imagine it tends to refer to the dynamic aspects of the bug rather than the static, as this is what is immediate to the player. This is reflected in the fact that "glitch" is commonly used as a verb as well as a noun: "I was glitching the shit out of GTA last night, it was awesome." An encouraging sign for future hackers I'm sure you'll agree. Many people, myself included had formative experiences with computers by abusing and exploiting video game glitches, as a kid it was like peeling back the edge of reality. I think you can see the connection here to the phrase "glitch in the matrix." It got to the point where I was pulling cartridges halfway out of their slot while the game was running in order to walk through walls. Halcyon days... Here's the inevitable wiki: http://glitches.wikia.com http://glitches.wikia.com
skisly 13y ago
I think it's very good practice to tape bugs. We need to think how we can apply it to DEV process ;)
jnye131 13y ago
Explains why it's all going wrong this week then.
caniscrator 13y ago
Those were at least tangible back then :D
csmatt 13y ago
Looks more like a feature to me! haha I had to do a report on an influential woman when I was in middle school and chose Grace Hopper. I've always been quite happy with that choice.
sspiff 13y ago
I bet she never complained about the computer industry or navy being sexist and dominated by males. Even if she did, it seems like she coped rather well.
- srl 13y ago
  When the field was getting started, managing computers was seen as secretarial work, i.e., something women should do. http://gender.stanford.edu/news/2011/researcher-reveals-how-“computer-geeks”-replaced-“computergirls” http://gender.stanford.edu/news/2011/researcher-reveals-how-...
  - sspiff 13y ago
    I'm aware of this, but I didn't realize it lasted so long. I would have expected by the 1960's that the field was firmly male-dominated.
    - sejje 13y ago
      So you realized it was still sexist, just with roles reversed? I highly doubt she complained, that doesn't mean she didn't notice the sexism.
    - laumars 13y ago
      Does it even matter? I don't get why you would bring gender into this discussion to begin with. Yes she had her genitals on the inside, but by focusing on that issue rather than the actual subject matter, you're perpetuating the notion that there's a difference between male and female operators. And by saying "I bet she never complained" you're demeaning women as much as the small minded men who feel the need to insult their peers because of their gender. So can we please stop beating the old gender topic and just get on with our jobs as equals.
- dylandrop 13y ago
  According to this article (http://women2.com/girls-go-geek-again-fog-creek-software-blog-new-york/ http://women2.com/girls-go-geek-again-fog-creek-software-blo...), apparently in 1987, 42% of software developers were women, and computer programming was considered a female position in the 1960's. Actually, my own grandmother was hired to use an early sort-of-computer (a comptometer, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comptometer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comptometer) during WW2. Regardless, I'm confused what your point is here. It seems like you're implying that modern women complain too much about sexism and the majority of men in the workplace. To this... I encourage you to look, well, pretty much anywhere on the web to see its veracity: http://valleywag.gawker.com/techcrunch-disrupt-kicks-off-with-titstare-app-and-fa-1274394925 http://valleywag.gawker.com/techcrunch-disrupt-kicks-off-wit... http://www.fastcolabs.com/3016238/why-your-startups-culture-is-secretly-awful http://www.fastcolabs.com/3016238/why-your-startups-culture-... I don't know about you, but as a man in CS, I'd rather attract women to come to tech rather than ostracize them or marginalize them. I don't want my workplace to become a frat.
KC8ZKF 13y ago
The article refers to the tape used as Scotch, but it looks more like kapton. Was kapton available in 1947?
- moron4hire 13y ago
  The older glue yellows in exactly that way.

170 points by morphics 13y ago

eli 13y ago

I really like this clip of Grace Hopper on Letterman in the mid 80s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-vcErOPofQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-vcErOPofQ

joe5150 13y ago
"How did you know so much about computers then?" "I didn't. It was the first one." Brilliant.
- laumars 13y ago
  I thought the Colossus which was ran at Bletchley Park -also during WWII- was the "first" computer. Was the Colossus still classified when that interview was conducted or is this a case of different "firsts" (eg Colossus being the first electrical computer, but Harvard Mark I (I think they said she was the operator of) was the first computer of another specification?
  - joe5150 13y ago
    She said something about Mark I being the first such computer in the United States, but I think the gist is true anyway, that people employed at least in the practical aspects of computing at that time were learning a lot as they went along.
    - laumars 13y ago
      Oh totally. And each computer was significantly different so while some knowledge was transferable, a lot may not have been. Sorry if it came across as if I was undermining Graces achievements. I really didn't mean it that way at all. I was just enquiring about the classifications of early 'computers' and which came first as computers back then differed quite substantially from now and even from each other, so you get several different machines that claim to be the 'first' for various different reasons.
  - leoc 13y ago
    It's largely a toss-up, as neither was fully Turing-complete. In principle Zuse's Z3 completed in 1941 was fully programmable, but no-one realised it at the time, and writing arbitrary programs on it involves using a hack which apparently wouldn't have been suitable for real use anyway. (Nonetheless, Zuse had started work on his high-level language http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plankalk%C3%BCl http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plankalk%C3%BCl during the war.) The earlier Bell Labs machines and the ABC weren't fully programmable either. Babbage's Analytical Engine would have been Turing-complete but had never been built. The old Computer Museum documentary Computer Pioneers - Pioneer Computers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qundvme1Tik&list=PL14396C9538B4C234 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qundvme1Tik&list=PL14396C9538... is pretty good.
nicholassmith 13y ago
That's fantastic, thanks for posting it here.

jgrahamc 13y ago

It's a nice story, but for an even earlier bug look at the first 'program' written by Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage. In one of Lovelace's letters to Babbage she mentions finding errors in their 'table and diagram' (the program): http://i.imgur.com/zxOya1n.png http://i.imgur.com/zxOya1n.png

ChrisClark 13y ago
That's why it says, "first actual case of bug being found". The term bug was used before, even before Ada. Grace Hopper talks about the situation as humorous because they found an 'actual' bug this time.

palebluedot 13y ago

Very interesting - I've heard of this story before, but this was the first time I've seen an image of the notes, with the bug taped on it. It is odd the phrasing used, in the original note: "first actual case of bug being found". That makes me think of a couple of things: 1. Perhaps some of them were already referring to program errors as "bugs", or 2. They suspected before that bugs in the relays may be the cause of errors, but this is the first time it was confirmed. A bit off-topic, but not too much: my kids, and all their friends, do not refer to programs or games as having "bugs" or being "buggy". The vernacular they all use (5th grade up through 9th grade) is "glitch"; e.g. the game has a glitch, or this program is glitchy, etc. I don't think I've heard them say "bug" very often, if at all, and I wonder if this is a new trend wider than just my kids and their immediate peers.

arnarbi 13y ago
> 1. Perhaps some of them were already referring to program errors as "bugs" This. Engineers talked about "bugs" even before the time of computers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_bug#Etymology http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_bug#Etymology
- scoggs 13y ago
  Edison was one of the first, if not the first. http://theinstitute.ieee.org/technology-focus/technology-history/did-you-know-edison-coined-the-term-bug http://theinstitute.ieee.org/technology-focus/technology-his...
  - pkfrank 13y ago
    This is confirmed in The Etymologicon: http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Etymologicon.html?id=U0zav6EgOwYC http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Etymologicon.html?id...
JonnieCache 13y ago
"Glitch" is the standard word in the world of video games, and as you might imagine it tends to refer to the dynamic aspects of the bug rather than the static, as this is what is immediate to the player. This is reflected in the fact that "glitch" is commonly used as a verb as well as a noun: "I was glitching the shit out of GTA last night, it was awesome." An encouraging sign for future hackers I'm sure you'll agree. Many people, myself included had formative experiences with computers by abusing and exploiting video game glitches, as a kid it was like peeling back the edge of reality. I think you can see the connection here to the phrase "glitch in the matrix." It got to the point where I was pulling cartridges halfway out of their slot while the game was running in order to walk through walls. Halcyon days... Here's the inevitable wiki: http://glitches.wikia.com http://glitches.wikia.com

skisly 13y ago

I think it's very good practice to tape bugs. We need to think how we can apply it to DEV process ;)

jnye131 13y ago

Explains why it's all going wrong this week then.

caniscrator 13y ago

Those were at least tangible back then :D

csmatt 13y ago

Looks more like a feature to me! haha I had to do a report on an influential woman when I was in middle school and chose Grace Hopper. I've always been quite happy with that choice.

sspiff 13y ago

I bet she never complained about the computer industry or navy being sexist and dominated by males. Even if she did, it seems like she coped rather well.

srl 13y ago
When the field was getting started, managing computers was seen as secretarial work, i.e., something women should do. http://gender.stanford.edu/news/2011/researcher-reveals-how-“computer-geeks”-replaced-“computergirls” http://gender.stanford.edu/news/2011/researcher-reveals-how-...
- sspiff 13y ago
  I'm aware of this, but I didn't realize it lasted so long. I would have expected by the 1960's that the field was firmly male-dominated.
  - sejje 13y ago
    So you realized it was still sexist, just with roles reversed? I highly doubt she complained, that doesn't mean she didn't notice the sexism.
  - laumars 13y ago
    Does it even matter? I don't get why you would bring gender into this discussion to begin with. Yes she had her genitals on the inside, but by focusing on that issue rather than the actual subject matter, you're perpetuating the notion that there's a difference between male and female operators. And by saying "I bet she never complained" you're demeaning women as much as the small minded men who feel the need to insult their peers because of their gender. So can we please stop beating the old gender topic and just get on with our jobs as equals.
dylandrop 13y ago
According to this article (http://women2.com/girls-go-geek-again-fog-creek-software-blog-new-york/ http://women2.com/girls-go-geek-again-fog-creek-software-blo...), apparently in 1987, 42% of software developers were women, and computer programming was considered a female position in the 1960's. Actually, my own grandmother was hired to use an early sort-of-computer (a comptometer, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comptometer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comptometer) during WW2. Regardless, I'm confused what your point is here. It seems like you're implying that modern women complain too much about sexism and the majority of men in the workplace. To this... I encourage you to look, well, pretty much anywhere on the web to see its veracity: http://valleywag.gawker.com/techcrunch-disrupt-kicks-off-with-titstare-app-and-fa-1274394925 http://valleywag.gawker.com/techcrunch-disrupt-kicks-off-wit... http://www.fastcolabs.com/3016238/why-your-startups-culture-is-secretly-awful http://www.fastcolabs.com/3016238/why-your-startups-culture-... I don't know about you, but as a man in CS, I'd rather attract women to come to tech rather than ostracize them or marginalize them. I don't want my workplace to become a frat.

KC8ZKF 13y ago

The article refers to the tape used as Scotch, but it looks more like kapton. Was kapton available in 1947?

moron4hire 13y ago
The older glue yellows in exactly that way.