Article View: alt.folklore.computers
Article #1256Re: Moth in relay! Urban myth?
From: r... - Phydeaux -
Date: Wed, 07 Feb 1990 19:26
Date: Wed, 07 Feb 1990 19:26
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In article <1990Feb4.0...@agate.berkeley.edu> b...@alfa.berkeley.edu (Brad Sherman) writes:
>I have heard a number of versions of a story about a moth
>flying into a relay of an early electro-mechanical computer.
>The moth gets taped into the system log book.
>The use of "bug" meaning computer problem is born.
>
>Two questions:
> Can someone attest to moth in the logbook story?
> (First- or second- hand sources preferred.)
I heard Grace Hopper give a talk a few years ago at a Heath Users' Group
convention. She told this story.
> I find it hard to believe that this was the first time
> that an insect jammed a relay. Is this really the origin
> of this meaning of bug?
It was a long time ago... there's a first time for anything... but remember,
it wasn't just *any* relay, it was one in a computer...
reb
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From: r...@squid.rtech.com ("*=- Phydeaux -=*")
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Moth in relay! Urban myth?
Message-ID: <4683@rtech.rtech.com>
Date: 7 Feb 90 19:26:48 GMT
References: <1990Feb4.072343.7821@agate.berkeley.edu>
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