This section covers the origin of certain words.
bug (bug)
Meaning:
A defect, difficulty or imperfection as in a system or design
The term was coined in the lab of Thomas Edison, perhaps by the man himself. Edison is the first to be recorded using the term in 1878. From Matthew Josephson’s 1959 Edison: a Biography which quotes the man himself: “'Bugs'—as such little faults and difficulties are called—show themselves and months of anxious watching, study and labor are requisite before commercial success...is reached.'" [There is, however, a very popular etymology (or perhaps it is entomology in this case) that credits Grace Hopper, naval officer and computer pioneer, with coining the term bug for a computer defect when she discovered an insect in a malfunctioning computer. It’s a fun story, and it’s even true, except in that it is not the origin of the term. Hopper (or perhaps one of her colleagues) did discover an insect in a computer, but as we have seen bug meaning defect dates from the nineteenth century.]
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment