Why Is a Computer Problem Called a Bug?
Computer folklore credits the first computer bug to the staff of Grace Murray Hopper, a computer pioneer, who found a moth trapped in a panel of the Mark II Aiken Relay Calculator, an early computer. However, the term bug to denote a defect or flaw harks back to the 1800s.Grace Murray HopperThe first computer bug is on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, along with the following story. In 1947, Grace Murray Hopper, the creator of COBOL, the first computer language, and Navy admiral, helped Howard Aiken at Harvard with the Mark II Calculator. On Sept. 9, a member of Hopper’s staff discovered a moth trapped inside the machine, removed the insect, taped it to the computer log and designated it “the first computer bug.” This statement indicates a joke and that “bug,” meaning an error in a computer or computer software, was already in use.HistoryFred R. Shapiro in “Etymology of the Computer Bug: History and Folklore” cites Thomas Edison from an 1889 “Pall Mall Ga
