The First Bugs

Let’s talk about the first bugs today.

You’re probably already thinking about two different meanings for the word bug: one is all about six-legged critters (possibly also eight-legged, depending on how you define it), and the other is about some kind of error in a computer process or program.

Note: you might also say you’ve caught a bug if you’re sick, although I think you hear this a lot less nowadays than when I was a kid.

There’s a story surrounding the way the phrase came about in computing, and it involves an absolute legend in the field of programming.

Grace Hopper had the type of mind the Navy was most interested in, and she joined the naval reserves at the start of World War II. Her Ph.D. in mathematics from Yale, coupled with her intense patriotism, made Hopper ideal for complex computational work that would prove crucial to the war effort.

During the war, there was a desperate need for computers—the people who did the calculating for things like artillery—and thousands of wo…