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Computing History & Legendary BugsComputing History

The First Bug Was a Real Moth

In 1947 engineers taped a moth into their logbook

Programmers blame bugs for everything that goes wrong. Where did the word come from, and why is one bug kept in a museum?

You'll find out

  • What a computer sounded like in 1947
  • How one dead relay gets hunted down
  • Why the joke was already old

Why it matters

Every app you use was debugged thousands of times. The craft is older than software, and its best-known page has wings.

About 4 min7 interactive slides · 5 questionsLesson 117 · Zone 13

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