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Who invented the term debugging?

Updated: 8/11/2023
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The term "bug" in the meaning of technical error dates back at least to 1878 and Thomas Edison, and "debugging" seems to have been used as a term in aeronautics from 1945, in the context of repairing aircraft engines.

It was not applied to computers until September 9, 1947 when a moth was found smashed in a relay of the Harvard Mark III electromechanical computer. Obviously this was (like all previous usage of the terms) a hardware problem, not a software problem (as the terms are now used).

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8y ago

Admiral Grace Hopper is credited with having coined the terms "bug" and "debugging" after her colleagues discovered a moth trapped inside a relay in Harvard University's Mark II Computer. However, the term "debugging" was already in common use within aeronautics long before it became associated with computers. The term "bug" can also be traced farther back to Thomas Edison in 1878. Even Admiral Hopper herself admitted she did not coin the phrase.

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Who made the word debugging?

There is some controversy over the origin of the term "debugging." The terms "bug" and "debugging" are both popularly attributed to Admiral Grace Hopper in the 1940s[1]. While she was working on a Mark II Computer at Harvard University, her associates discovered a moth stuck in a relay and thereby impeding operation, whereupon she remarked that they were "debugging" the system. However the term "bug" in the meaning of technical error dates back at least to 1878 and Thomas Edison (see the Software bug article for a full discussion), and "debugging" seems to have been used as a term in aeronautics before entering the world of computers. Indeed, in an interview Grace Hopper remarked that she was not coining the term. The moth fit the already existing terminology, so she saved it. The Oxford English Dictionary entry for "debug" quotes the term "debugging" used in reference to airplane engine testing in a 1945 article in the Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society, Hopper's bug was found 9 September 1947. The term was not adopted by computer programmers until the early 1950s. The seminal article by Gill [2] in 1951 is the earliest in-depth discussion of programming errors, but it does not use the term "bug" or "debugging". In the ACM's digital library, the term "debugging" is first used in three papers from 1952 ACM National Meetings.[3][4][5] Two of the three use the term in quotation marks. By 1963, "debugging" was a common enough term to be mentioned in passing without explanation on page 1 of the CTSS manual.[6] Kidwell's article Stalking the Elusive Computer Bug[7] discusses the etymology of "bug" and "debug" in greater detail


Who invented the debugging?

The term "bug" in the meaning of technical error dates back at least to 1878 and Thomas Edison, and "debugging" seems to have been used as a term in aeronautics from 1945, in the context of repairing aircraft engines.It was not applied to computers until September 9, 1947 when a moth was found smashed in a relay of the Harvard Mark III electromechanical computer. Obviously this was (like all previous usage of the terms) a hardware problem, not a software problem (as the terms are now used).


Identifying and removing errors in programming code is called?

Debugging


What is a backtrace?

A backtrace is another term for a stack trace, in computing, a hierarchical trace of the function calls made by a program, as used in debugging.


Who invented the term Rube Goldberg?

Bill Thomas invented the term Rube Goldberg.

Related questions

Who invented the word debugging?

Grace Hopper


Who is said to be responsible for coining the term debugging?

Grace Murray Hopper.


What type of bug stopped the first electronic computers giving us the term debugging?

the term "debugging" long predates computers. it appears in electronic literature back in the 1920s and was used occasionally in other fields in the late 1800s.


Who made the word debugging?

There is some controversy over the origin of the term "debugging." The terms "bug" and "debugging" are both popularly attributed to Admiral Grace Hopper in the 1940s[1]. While she was working on a Mark II Computer at Harvard University, her associates discovered a moth stuck in a relay and thereby impeding operation, whereupon she remarked that they were "debugging" the system. However the term "bug" in the meaning of technical error dates back at least to 1878 and Thomas Edison (see the Software bug article for a full discussion), and "debugging" seems to have been used as a term in aeronautics before entering the world of computers. Indeed, in an interview Grace Hopper remarked that she was not coining the term. The moth fit the already existing terminology, so she saved it. The Oxford English Dictionary entry for "debug" quotes the term "debugging" used in reference to airplane engine testing in a 1945 article in the Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society, Hopper's bug was found 9 September 1947. The term was not adopted by computer programmers until the early 1950s. The seminal article by Gill [2] in 1951 is the earliest in-depth discussion of programming errors, but it does not use the term "bug" or "debugging". In the ACM's digital library, the term "debugging" is first used in three papers from 1952 ACM National Meetings.[3][4][5] Two of the three use the term in quotation marks. By 1963, "debugging" was a common enough term to be mentioned in passing without explanation on page 1 of the CTSS manual.[6] Kidwell's article Stalking the Elusive Computer Bug[7] discusses the etymology of "bug" and "debug" in greater detail


Who event the term debugging?

Grace Murray Hopper is ofter given the credit for this term. She actually found a moth in the computer and framed it as a bug in the system.


What is the technical name for debugging?

what is the technical name for debugging?


Who invented the debugging?

The term "bug" in the meaning of technical error dates back at least to 1878 and Thomas Edison, and "debugging" seems to have been used as a term in aeronautics from 1945, in the context of repairing aircraft engines.It was not applied to computers until September 9, 1947 when a moth was found smashed in a relay of the Harvard Mark III electromechanical computer. Obviously this was (like all previous usage of the terms) a hardware problem, not a software problem (as the terms are now used).


Identifying and removing errors in programming code is called?

Debugging


How do you carry out debugging using Google Chrome?

Debugging in Google Chrome can be done using Inspect Element. F12 is the shortcut key for enabling debugging.


What is a backtrace?

A backtrace is another term for a stack trace, in computing, a hierarchical trace of the function calls made by a program, as used in debugging.


How do you debug applet?

Great article of debugging, including debugging applets: http://kaidokalda.blogspot.com/


When was Allinea Distributed Debugging Tool created?

Allinea Distributed Debugging Tool was created in 2002.