Just found out the first computer bug was a literal moth stuck in a relay

I was reading about old computers at the library and saw a picture from 1947. The team working on the Harvard Mark II found a moth stuck in a relay that was causing errors. They taped it into their logbook and wrote 'first actual case of bug being found'. I always thought 'bug' was just a metaphor. It's wild to think debugging started with actual insects. Has anyone else stumbled on a weird coding fact that made you laugh?

2 comments

2 Comments

oliver81111d ago

That's such a cool piece of history. I read about how the term "patch" came from literally patching paper tape with tape over the holes you didn't want. It's funny how these physical problems gave us the words we use every day now.

linda33611d ago

Actually, that paper tape story gets repeated a lot but it's a bit of a myth! The word "patch" for fixing problems was used in other fields way before computers. It's a neat idea, but the real history is more about the general idea of mending something broken, not just tape over holes. The computer use just borrowed an old, useful word.