Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 beta 3/9/83; site frog.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!mit-eddie!cybvax0!frog!wjr From: wjr@frog.UUCP (Bill Richard) Newsgroups: net.followup Subject: Re: The origin of 'debugging' Message-ID: <191@frog.UUCP> Date: Fri, 7-Jun-85 13:09:00 EDT Article-I.D.: frog.191 Posted: Fri Jun 7 13:09:00 1985 Date-Received: Sun, 9-Jun-85 02:25:56 EDT References: <718@druor.UUCP> <148@harvard.ARPA> <529@rlvd.UUCP> Organization: Charles River Data Systems, Framingham MA Lines: 50 [bug] > I went to a talk given by Grace Hopper (the mother of COBOL! ) > a few years back, and she claims to have created the phrase > in the early days of computing. Here is her story : > > (story about bug in relay) > > I don't believe this myself. Anybody out there heard this story ? > > Andrew Smith. Yes, and it seems to be a true story. I have heard it from several sources but the only one I have handy at the moment is a copy of a page from the first issue of the 'Whole Earth Software Review'. Which, under the heading 'The First Bug' quotes Grace Hopper, writing in the 'Annals of the History of Computing', about how in the summer of '45 while trying to get the Navy's Mark II relay logic computer working they found a moth in one of the relays, removed it and taped it into the logbook. She adds, "Now, Commander Howard Aiken had a habit of coming into the room and saying, 'Are you making any numbers?' From then on if we weren't making any numbers, we told him that we were debugging the computer. To the best of my knowledge that's where it started." Below the text is a photo of the logbook page showing a moth taped to it and the entry, 1545 Relay #70 Panel F moth in relay First actual case of bug being found. The article says that the logbook page is preserved at the Naval Museum at the Naval Surface Weapons Center in Dalghren VA. Now I am aware that someone posted a citation from a dictionary showing that phrases like "Still a few bugs left in it." were in use at an earlier date and the note in the log ("First actual case ...") seems to indicate that Hopper and her teammates were aware of this usage, but this may indeed be the first time it was applied to a computer. Also her claim is more specificly to the invention of the word "debugging", as opposed to the earlier phrase "Getting the bugs out" and that I can certainly believe. -- ---- William J. Richard @ Charles River Data Systems 983 Concord St. Framingham, MA 01701 Tel: (617) 626-1112 uucp: ...!decvax!frog!wjr