Re: unix acronyms -collecting a list?

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Article #4326

#4326

From: Kevin P. Neal
Date: Sat, 24 May 1997 00:00

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stremler@rohan.sdsu.edu (Stewart Stremler) wrote:

>Nathan Hand (Nathan.Hand@anu.edu.au) wrote:
>[snip]
>> The term "bug" has been used in engineering circles since the late 1800's
>> to describe machinery which wasn't quite working. The moth in the relay
>> is just another one of the urban myths, but it's a damn good one, I
>> admit!

>The moth in the relay "actually happened" from all the reliable sources
>I've seen; I don't think that constitutes and "urban myth". The assertion
>that the moth was the origin of the term "debugging" could be such a 
>myth, however.

1) Yes, the moth thing actually happened. Pictures of the moth exist.

2) Just because the moth actually got into the computer doesn't mean
that that was the origin of the term "bug". 

I believe he meant to say that "the term 'bug' originated in the late
1800's, but urban myth today says it came from the moth incident'.

--
XCOMM Kevin P. Neal, Junior, Comp. Sci.     -   House of Retrocomputing
XCOMM  mailto:kpneal@pobox.com              -   http://www.pobox.com/~kpn/
XCOMM  kpneal@eos.ncsu.edu              Spoken by Keir Finlow-Bates:
XCOMM "Good grief, I've just noticed I've typed in a rant. Sorry chaps!"

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From: kpneal@pobox.com (Kevin P. Neal)
Subject: Re: unix acronyms -collecting a list?
Date: 1997/05/24
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