She played an instrumental role in the development of the cobol computer programming language 1. The navy promotes the idea that it was hopper that squashed the first computer bug. Bug is an old word that used to have a supernatural context goblin. Grace hopper wrote in her diary about one specific bug event mentioning first actual case of bug being found. In 1946, when hopper was released from active duty, she joined the harvard faculty at the computation laboratory where she continued her work on the. Whether grace hopper really was the first to coin the term bug is an open question but her version of the story is at least fun. Sep 17, 2018 this bug was a reallife bug and was extracted from the number 70 relay, panel f, of the harvard mark ii aiken relay calculator. First actual computer bug was found today, 66 years ago. Although she was not present during the episode, she used to draw caricatures of her bugs, and her retelling of the anecdote about the insect resonated so much with people that the term has become associated with her. Hopper was not actually the one who found the insect, as she readily acknowledged. Thomas edison in 1878 wrote you were partly correct. Oct 02, 2019 in spite of the fact that everybody else who answers this question is going to talk about grace hoppers moth, the term bug for problem in a device was around for a long time before her moth.
Wikipedia page on software bug, wikipedia page on harvard mark i, and relays. The origin of the term computer bug interesting engineering. On september 9, 1947, computer scientist grace hopper reported the. Grace hopper, who rose through navy ranks to become a rear admiral at age eightytwo, is best known for her. The words bug and debug soon became a standard part of the language of computer programmers. So the first computer bug, was in fact, a real insect. Watch grace hopper, the queen of software, crack jokes with letterman yes, microsoft ceo satya nadella put a bit of damper on things, with his, shall we say, ill. What we can learn from grace hopper and the first reported bug. Who coined the term bug for a computer fault answers. Thomas edison talked about bugs in electrical circuits in the 1870s. Bugs are an occupational hazard of many a programmer and software developer. Hopper taped the insect in the mark iis logbook, alongside notes explaining what happened, which led the other team members including william bill burke to coin a term bug for all mistakes and issues computer program can have. Plant hopper, any member of several insect families of the order homoptera, easily recognized because of the hollow, enlarged head extension that may appear luminous see lanternfly. With the longest active military career, rear admiral grace hopper 19061992 was also known as amazing grace and grand old lady of software.
The term bug was used in an account by computer pioneer grace hopper, who publicized the cause of a malfunction in an early electromechanical computer. It was preserved for all the time behind an adhesive tape on the machines logbook with the phrase first actual case of a bug being found. Next to marie curie, there is a small one that is called grace hopper, after the famous computer scientist. Insects caused shortened circuits and, as a result, made the computer malfunction. Smithsonian institution hopper was the programmer of the mark ii and led the team that found the moth. Navy rear admiral grace hopper, coined the terms bug and debug after an incident involving harvard. She played an instrumental role in the development of the cobol computer programming language. This computer bug insect removed and taped to log book september 9th 1945 at 3. One of the first programmers of the harvard mark i computer, she was a pioneer of computer programming who invented one of the first linkers. After rooting through the massive machine to find the cause of the problem, admiral grace hopper, who worked in the navys engineering program at harvard, found the bug. A bug is a general term used to describe any unexpected problem with hardware or software. The term computer bug or software bug is ubiquitous in it. Welcome to the chips magazine grace murray hopper webpage.
The process of finding and fixing bugs is termed debugging and often uses. May 07, 2017 that first bug was an actual bug, which made the computer to not work as it should. The mark i was acting up and giving incorrect results. Operators found out that there was a moth trapped in a relay and wrote down in a log book first actual case of a bug being found with the dead moth taped to the page. A software bug is an error, flaw or fault in a computer program or system that causes it to produce an incorrect or unexpected result, or to behave in unintended ways. Did grace hopper really invent the term bug to describe software. This bug was a reallife bug and was extracted from the number 70 relay, panel f, of the harvard mark ii aiken relay calculator. Admiral grace hopper an early computing pioneer better known for inventing cobol liked to tell a story in which a technician solved a glitch in the harvard mark ii machine by pulling an actual insect out from between the contacts of one of its relays, and she subsequently promulgated bug in its hackish sense as a joke about the incident though, as she was careful to admit, she was not there when it happened. The term bug was first used by grace hopper on september 9th, 1945 when a real bug, a moth, shortcircuited an early computer on relay number.
Grace hopper controls the univac, the first commercial electronic computer credit. The amount and type of damage a software bug may cause naturally affects decisionmaking, processes and policy regarding software quality. By offering yard service as well as pest control, hopper is able to not only get rid of your bugs, but keep your yard healthy, bug free and gorgeous. Sep 09, 2016 one offshoot of this is the annual grace hopper celebration, which has been active since it was founded in 1994 by dr. Worlds first computer bug national geographic society. In 1946, when hopper was released from active duty, she joined the harvard faculty at the computation laboratory where she continued her work on the mark. It was a reallife moth that was causing the issues with the computers hardware this first actual case of bug being found was recorded by computer scientist grace hopper. Although she was not present during the episode, she used to draw caricatures of her bugs, and her retelling of the anecdote about the insect resonated. Later it was often said that grace hopper, who worked at the institute at that time, had found the moth, which is in fact not true. The term bug was first used by grace hopper on september 9th, 1945 when a real bug, a moth, shortcircuited an early computer on relay number 70 panel f, of the mark ii aiken relay calculator, in. In applications such as manned space travel or automotive safety, since software flaws have the potential to cause human injury or even death, such software will have far more scrutiny and quality control than, for example, an online shopping website. While there may at some point have been a literal insect removed from an actual computing machine, thats unlikely to be where the term itself comes from.
Grace hopper s moth is often considered the first use of the term bug. One offshoot of this is the annual grace hopper celebration, which has been active since it was founded in 1994 by dr. But this was no ordinary software bug it was a trapped moth. Grace brewster murray hopper nee murray december 9, 1906 january 1, 1992 was an american computer scientist and united states navy rear admiral. The oed supplement records sense 4b of the noun bug a defect. After her colleagues at harvard openedup some hardware to try and discover what was causing errors in. The process of finding and fixing bugs is termed debugging and often uses formal techniques or tools to pinpoint bugs, and since the 1950s, some computer systems have been designed to also deter, detect or autocorrect various. Grace and her coworkers at harvard university were having trouble with their computer. A software bug is the common term used to describe an error, flaw, mistake, failure. The process of removing bugs is called debugging, which hopper and her team had to do quite literally. They taped the insect in their logbook and labeled it first actual case of bug being found. Jan 12, 2011 this computer bug insect removed and taped to log book september 9th 1945 at 3. After her colleagues at harvard openedup some hardware.
While she was working with a computer one day, she found a dead moth stuck inside it. Grace hopper with the longest active military career, rear admiral grace hopper 19061992 was also known as amazing grace and grand old lady of software. On september 9, 1947, the worlds first computer bug was recorded. The term bugs in a computer had been used before, but after grace hopper wrote in her diary first actual case of bug being found the term became. The bug, which is shown below, was discovered in one of its components. For example, grace hopper logged and taped a moth bug in a log book that caused issues with the mark ii. The use of the word bug in this sense was widespread before this, but that could be the first time someone actually and literally found a bug, in this case it was a moth. It was recored by grace murray hopper one of the most important people in the history of computing. It was a reallife moth that was causing the issues with the computers hardware.
Grace hoppers moth is often considered the first use of the term bug. And the date was september 9, but in 1947, not 1945. The invention of the term is often erroneously attributed to grace hopper. She played an instrumental role in the development of the cobol computer programming. Yes, its an oftrepeated tale, but its got more bugs in it than relay 70. By mark bettex here at frontiers, we do give names to our meeting rooms.
Log book with computer bug national museum of american. Its an oftrepeated tale that the grand dame of military computing, computer scientist and u. Log book with computer bug national museum of american history. The word went out that they had debugged the machine and the term debugging a computer program was born.
The term bug was coined by grace hopper, an early computer pioneer, in 1946. This first actual case of bug being found was recorded by computer scientist grace hopper. The grace hopper papers in the national museum of american history nmah, smithsonian institution archives center and documents elsewhere show that by 1947, harvard personnel had been using the word bug to describe problems with their computers for several years. The idea that grace hopper found the first bug and that software bugs derive from her account of a moth stopping harvards mark i computer is a popularly accepted myth within the computing community.
The first bug in computer history was an insect a moth. Undoubtedly and this person deserves strapping unbreakable statues on the computer olympus. Among the many stories that she enjoyed retelling, one happened exactly 68 years ago, on september 9th, 1947. She popularized the idea of machineindependent programming languages, which led to the development of. In those days computers filled large rooms and the warmth of the internal components attracted moths, flies and other flying creatures.
An internal examination located the faulty relay and there jammed between the contacts was a moth beaten to death by the rapid opening and closing of the relay. Bug is an old word that used to have a supernatural context goblin and bogeyman are related before it got applied to physical creepy crawlies. Sep 09, 20 that grace hopper found or was responsible for popularizing it the first actual bug found in a computer. A real physical moth, that got stuck between the contacts of a relay in the harvard mark ii computer. Harvard computer workers were not alone in using the term bug to refer to problems. Mar 23, 2018 the term bug was used in an account by computer pioneer grace hopper, who publicized the cause of a malfunction in an early electromechanical computer.
Plant hoppers feed on plant juices and excrete honeydew, a sweet byproduct of digestion. A page from the harvard mark ii electromechanical computers log, featuring a dead moth that was removed from the device the term bug was used in an account by computer pioneer grace hopper, who publicized the cause of a malfunction in an early electromechanical computer. Today, software bugs can impact the functioning, safety, and security of. Grace hopper added the caption first actual case of bug being found, and thats the first time anyone used the word bug to describe a computer glitch. If you have any questions please call, text, or email us at the following.
In spite of the fact that everybody else who answers this question is going to talk about grace hoppers moth, the term bug for problem in a device was around for a long time before her moth. Grace brewster murra y hopper nee murray december 9, 1906 january 1, 1992 was an american computer scientist and united states navy rear admiral. Grace hopper did not invent the bug, but she did draw cartoons of gremlins that represented chads, or fragments, created when holes are made in her computers punched paper tapes. Among those working on the mark ii in 1947 was mathematician and computer programmer grace hopper, who later became a navy rear admiral. Sep 09, 2015 here at frontiers, we do give names to our meeting rooms. Hopper had inadvertently discovered the first actual case of a bug in a computer. Early computers were prone to hardware problems these problems were known as bugs as in work the bugs out. The late admiral grace hopper was one of the programmers on that project. On september 9, 1947, computer scientist grace hopper reported the worlds first computer bug.
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