Many terms commonly used in computer programming originated with Mark I | Hacker News Reader

Many terms commonly used in computer programming originated with Mark I

sites.harvard.edu

84 pointskurren12 comments

This article lists 4 terms that it says originated with Mark I. But 3 of those terms were used in the Mark I because they already meant the correct thing. The only term to get effectively a new definition when applied to computers is "bug". So it seems kind of weird to say that e.g. "loop" originated with the Mark I when the definition of the word didn't change.

In fact this kind of brings to mind patents. "ordinary thing, done by a computer" is not particularly significant, neither in terminology nor patentable ideas.

That's one of those things that sounds right only in hindsight.

Without the paper tape metaphor, the control flow for repetition might have been called "repeat" or "iterate". The word "loop" is nice and short, but it's an odd thing to say without the physical clue. The word didn't come up in my mathematical proofs class.

Instead of "patch" we probably would have said "fix" (we still sometimes do).

The control flow for repetition is in fact called "repeat" in some languages. I don't think the word "loop" stuck around because the metaphor of paper tapes is particularly compelling (especially since we stopped using those a long time ago), I think it stuck around because it's a good short word that means the right thing. And, for example, it's pretty awkward to say something like "a for repeat", but "a for loop" is nice and simple. We probably would have ended up on this word even without paper tapes.

Maybe, but the combination of "loop" and "break" makes a lot more sense if you imagine physically breaking a loop of paper.

'Loop' as a metaphor for a programming technique is perhaps less obvious than you think.

Even "bug" was in usage for malfunctioning electronics before computers.

Amazing to see how computer science imported these terms.. since it moved from classical mechanics to electromagnetism, electronics and now to quantum mechanics.. how the future will look like ? patterns, probabilities, uncertainty, learning, self-organization... much likely all those terms are going to disappear from the jargon .. a "bug" will have no meaning

Can anyone tell what these say: http://sites.harvard.edu/~chsi/markone/images/BugDrawings.jp...

I can only half-read it. I was trained in cursive, but have not used it in years.

July 27 - table worm

July 28 - NRL (Naval research laboratory) bug. He who sends wrong data

July 26 - Kitchie Boo Boo Bug. He who goes around loosening relays

:) He who brings good data.

I found the result by googling the ones I could read, which led me to this book: https://books.google.com/books?id=M3AwCYjYGKQC&pg=PA43&dq=%2...

I can half-read it, probably the same half you did.

Bottom half I feel confident in:

"NRL Bug He who sends wrong data" "he who brings good data"

Top half:

"Luke worm" – probably not right, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ "Kitchen Boo Boo Bug He who you/for aimed(??) ??? relays"

Wow that's iffy hand writing ...

* Upper Left is illegible -- Iskee worm(?)

* Top Right - Kitchee Boo Boo Bug, He who pors(?) around errors(?) in(?) relays

* Bottom Left - NRL Bug He who sends worms(?) data ....

* Bottom Right - He who brings good data ...

edit: Missing newline

Top left:

Table ____

Bottom left:

NRW Bug: He who sends ____ (wrong?) data

Top right:

Kitchie Boo Boo Bug: He who ____ around errors in relays

Bottom right:

He who brings good data

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