Who invented bug

We'll also explore its early uses and rise in popularity in the English lexicon. A bug produces unexpected results or causes a system to behave unexpectedly. In short, it is any behavior or result that a program or system gets but it was not designed to do. Most bugs occur due to errors and mistakes made by developers when constructing the source code, or the overall design, or within components and operating systems used by the programs in question.

Some are the result of errors in translation between different languages, made by compilers, which produce incorrect or illegible code. Much to the annoyance of many programmers, and users, "bugs" can trigger errors that produce ripple effects. Software bugs can either be subtle in nature i. Other bugs lead to issues with security and might, for example, enable a malicious user to bypass firewalls in order to obtain unauthorized access or privileges.

But it should be noted that computer viruses are not bugs; computer viruses replicate, while bugs do not. As any developer knows, there are very few, if any, programs that are completely error-free, even in those that have been extensively tested.

For this reason as well as adding new functionality , most software packages will often have a series of "point updates" issued over time, to fix "bugs" and errors as they are found. Although the vast majority of bugs are rather benign in nature, there have been some instances where they have had catastrophic consequences.

For instance, during the s, a bug in the code that controlled the Therac radiation therapy machines resulted in the deaths of patients.

In , the European Space Agency's ESA prototype Ariane 5 rocket had to be set to self-destruct less than one minute after launch, due to software errors in its onboard guidance systems. Although originally attributed to pilot error, later investigations, notably by Computer Weekly , successfully determined that the cause was a software error in the aircraft's engine-control systems. Interestingly, a study by the U. Over half of these costs are borne by software users in the form of error avoidance and mitigation activities.

The remaining costs are borne by software developers and reflect the additional testing resources that are consumed due to inadequate testing tools and methods. Although the term "computer bug" is relatively recent as it has only been applied to IT with the rise of computers the term "bug" has been used in informal engineering terminology for some time. The concept, although not the term, might date as far back as when Ada Lovelace spoke about the possibility of problematic program "cards" used in Charles Babbage's analytical engine.

Granted that the actual mechanism is unerring in its processes, the cards may give it wrong orders. The first recorded use of the term "bug", with regards to an error or malfunction in a machine, comes from none other than Thomas Edison. In an letter to an associate which was sold at auction in , he noted:.

This was in relation to Edison 's attempt to develop his quadruplex telegraph system to transmit and receive up to four separate telegrams on a single wire. He found a workaround for this problem that he termed a "bug trap". Edison also used the term extensively in his later writings and a biography of Edison noted the frequent appearance of the term "bug" in his notebooks.

The first step is intuition and comes with a burst, then difficulties arise—this thing gives out and [it is] then that "Bugs"—as such little faults and difficulties are called—show themselves and months of intense watching, study and labor are requisite before commercial success or failure is certainly reached. Long before computers and software were even conceived of the term "bug" was in common use to describe errors of faults in mechanical systems. But the actual reasoning for the first use of the term "bug", in and of itself is a little hazy, to say the least, but it may have its origins in early English parlance.

Some suggest it may have been derived from the Middle English bugge which forms the basis for the term "bugbear" and "bugaboo". Whichever is the origin of the word, at some point in the mid's it became a popular term for mechanical faults whose source was yet to be identified or isolated and corrected?

From this point on, the word bug was commonly used in engineering jargon. Engineers used the term extensively throughout the late s, as we have seen, with it seemingly entering common use around the turn of the century. The term was also in common use during WWII in reference to equipment that was plagued by glitches. You cannot download interactives. The Y2K bug was a computer flaw, or bug, that may have caused problems when dealing with dates beyond December 31, Join our community of educators and receive the latest information on National Geographic's resources for you and your students.

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Background Info Vocabulary. More Dates in History January. Media Credits The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. Media If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the corner of the media viewer.

Text Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service. Interactives Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. Related Resources. On September 9, , the world's first computer bug was recorded.

After her colleagues at Harvard opened-up some hardware to try and discover what was causing errors in the computer, they were surprised to find the insect trapped in a relay.

Who knew a moth could cause so much trouble?! They might not be the kind of monsters you find under your bed, but software bugs are definitely a software developers worst nightmare, so maybe this old school definition still stands too! Although she did not pioneer the term, Hopper was the first person to record a bug found in a computer, and certainly the first to attach said bug to her diary.

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