Kevin Lynch Archives

I think this was actually a *hardware* bug, not a software bug: a moth in the relay made the machine compute erroneously.

Ah, yes -- the software was misbehaving, but it was a hardware bug -- I'll update the post :)

We had a similar problem at General Magic, where there was an intermittent failure which was incredibly difficult to track down. Eventually, it was determined to be a flaw on the prototype circuit boards caused by a little *mold* at the manufacturing facility!

Also, the term bug apparently goes back to Edison's time, when he used it to refer to design defects in his inventions, perhaps originating even centuries before that.

AIUI, the bugs causing hardware errors caused much amusement: here was a literal bug to complement the metaphorical bugs they'd had to deal with in the past.

As you said, the term bug goes back at least as far as Edison. It may've had something to do with the word "bugbear", but that's just a guess.

This comment pieced together from vague memory and educated guesses; take it for what it's worth.

Cool! It's too bad today's "bugs" are less easily discovered and eradicated.

:)

it's sure the bug cames from the hardware

"While trying to repair the Mark I she discovered a moth caught in a relay. She taped the moth in the log book and from that coined the phrase 'a bug in the computer'."

Curious anecdote

Hey, that's interesting, Jacob Nielsen himself reads and writes to this blog. Would be nice if he would add a blog to useit.com, that would be a great chance to give feedback and make controversial discussions.

Alas, a bug!

Why bug.... :)

nice site you have! bookmarked it and hope you keep it up! cu