16 Jun
2021
16 Jun
'21
1:44 a.m.
On Tue, Jun 15, 2021 at 6:55 PM John Cowan <cowan(a)ccil.org> wrote:
On Tue, Jun 15, 2021 at 6:25 PM Steffen Nurpmeso
<steffen(a)sdaoden.eu>
wrote:
Indeed, the Vibroplex key is called a "bug". I suspect this has something
to do with its appearance more than anything else, though (it kinda sorta
looks like, er, a bug).
- Dan C.
As not being hard-to-the-core i may have missed
it, but also in
1951, in March, the wonderful Grace Hopper "conceives the first
compiler, called A-O and later released as Math-Matic. Hopper is
also credited with coining the term 'bug' following an incident
involving a moth and a Mark II.
Yes, but wrongly. The label next to the moth is "First actual case of bug
being found", and the word "actual" shows that the slang term already
existed then. Brief unexplained faults on telephony (and before that
telegraphy) lines were "bugs on the line" back in the 19C. Vibroplex
telegraph keys, first sold in 1905, had a picture of a beetle on the top of
the key, and were notorious for creating bugs when inexperienced operators
used them. (Vibroplex is still in business, still selling its
continuous-operation telegraph keys, which ditt as long as you hold the
paddle to the right.)