Nature of the Beast
Contrary to popular belief, the term bug was in use before the advent of computers. In the 1870s, Thomas Edison talked about bugs in electrical circuits. The story of the Harvard University Mark II Aiken Relay Calculator tells of the first recorded computer bug. In 1945, the early days of computers when they took up whole rooms, a moth flew in and managed to lodge itself in some circuits, causing a system failure. They taped it into the logbook and wrote, First actual case of bug being found. For posterity’s sake, it has been preserved in the Smithsonian Institute.
Bugs are bad news. But what are they, really? We outlined the correct nomenclature for these things in "TERMS AND CONDITIONS" on page 130. It’s worth identifying ...
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