Why we call software issue as "Bug" and not butterfly? So what's in that name? The term "bug" used to describe software issues has an interesting origin story. Nope.. stories. While it may seem like an unusual choice, there are actually several explanations for why this specific terminology emerged in the tech world.
What is a Bug?
Wikipedia define it as,
A software bug is an error, flaw or fault in the design, development, or operation of computer software that causes it to produce an incorrect or unexpected result, or to behave in unintended ways.
A bug is a problem or error that results in unexpected or unintended software or hardware behavior. Generally, any software or hardware glitch is referred to as "Bug" and the process of finding and fixing bugs is called "debugging". However, have you ever thought the reason behind the moniker "Bug"? There are countless tales and explanations for this.
Recordings
On September 9, 1947, Dr. Grace Hopper, one of the pioneers of computer programming and her team was working on the Mark II computer at Harvard university in Cambridge. while working, they encountered an unexpected error in the machine. Hopper and the team investigated the cause of issue and what they found is the little creature with the height of only 2 inch. Nothing but a moth, which actually caused a issue in that machine. The team carefully removed the moth and documented the event as "First actual case of bug being found".
It is commonly believed that the computer programmer Grace Hopper coined the term "bug". However, interestingly enough, Thomas Edison actually used this term more than 60 years before that to describe the technical issues in his innocations. Once, he used the term in a letter to the Western Union president, Theodare Puskas, which includes the below:
You were partly correct, I did find a ‘bug’ in my apparatus, but it was not in the telephone proper. It was of the genus ‘callbellum.’ The insect appears to find conditions for its existence in all call apparatus of Telephones.
In many of his notes, he used the term "bug" to mark the issues and faults. Thomas Sloane, an author and engineer, standardized Edison's vocabulary in his 1892 Standard Electrical Dictionary. He described a bug as any issue in the connections or operation of electric equipment, while a bug trap was defined as a solution for dealing with such issues.
Common Misconceptions
There's an another spurious story about the term "bug". It turns out that the term was actually used to describe the strange noise that would occasionally occur on telephone line, resembling the sound made by a cockroach. There's another common misunderstanding about the term bug. Some people think it comes from words like "bugbear" or "bugaboo". A bugbear is a legendary creature which was historically used in some cultures to frighten disobedient children. It's used to refer to mischievous spirits or troblemakers that supposedly messed with machines. It's an interesting one, but there's no concrete proof connecting the word "bug" in the tech world to these mythical creatures.
There are more and more. But for now, see you later.
