Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!ucsd!ucbvax!lynx.northeastern.edu!davidbrierley
From: davidbrierley@lynx.northeastern.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple
Subject: Bugs
Message-ID: <memo.171079@lynx.northeastern.edu>
Date: 5 Oct 89 00:03:52 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
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     Here's an interesting passage that I found in _The Basic Apple IIc: A
Self-teaching Guide_ (pages 306-307):

     We can't resist telling the story of where the term _bug_ comes from.  
     The MARK II comuter (one of the first modern comuters) used vacuum
     tubes, and tubes generate a lot of heat.  For this reason the
     windows were left open in the computer room.  Tubes burn out
     frequently so a whole crew did nothing but test circuits and replace
     tubes.  One day when the machine was down...they discovered that a
     moth had wandered in, been caught in a relay and, in so dong, had
     caused a short circuit.  The bug was removed, the relay reaired, and
     the MARK II was up again.  Grace Hooer (she is one of the most
     important forces in the development of high-level languages)
     remarked, "First successful debugging," and the moth was taped to
     the log book.  It remains there today.

    [A photograph of the log book page (with moth) follows that passage.]

    [P.S. Sorry for the typos - especially the p's.]