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Path: utzoo!utgpu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!hacgate!ashtate!tomr
From: tomr@ashtate (Tom Rombouts)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,comp.unix.internals,comp.misc
Subject: Re: Jargon file v2.1.5 28 NOV 1990 -- part 1 of 6
Message-ID: <1990Dec6.210626.23071@ashtate>
Date: 6 Dec 90 21:06:26 GMT
References: <1YbxCV#0YFHYG9zh4Tw3Ytjsy4ddrOM=eric@snark.thyrsus.com> <207@frcs.UUCP>
Reply-To: tomr@ashton.UUCP (Tom Rombouts)
Organization: Ashton-Tate, Torrance, CA
Lines: 20

In article <207@frcs.UUCP> paul@frcs.UUCP (Paul Nash) writes:
>Thus spake eric@snark.thyrsus.com (Eric S. Raymond):
>
>> BUG [from telephone terminology, ``bugs in a telephone cable'', blamed
>>    for noisy lines] n. An unwanted and unintended property of a
>>    program, esp. one which causes it to malfunction. See FEATURE.
>
>I have heard this attributed to Rear Admiral (retd) Grace Hopper, who 
>had a malfunctioning program.  The cause was traced to a fried moth in
>the back of the computer.


As many people may know, this is covered in "The Devouring Fungus" on
page 64 and 65 of "The Cybernetic Gods" chapter.  I don't want to spoil
it for people who have not yet read the book, but essentially "bug" to
mean a problem or snag has an older linguistic heritage than one might
expect!


Tom Rombouts  Torrance Techie  tomr@ashate.A-T.com  V:(213)538-7108


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