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Comment by refibrillator | Hacker News Reader

I love her sense of humor! One story she tells is about the world’s first computer bug [1], I had never heard it nor the history of the word.

She also mentions they were using computers to enhance satellite photos, it took 3 days to process but they could determine the height of waves in the middle of the pacific and the temperature 20 feet below the surface.

[1] The Bug in the Computer Bug Story

https://daily.jstor.org/the-bug-in-the-computer-bug-story/

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I think that article buries the most interesting part! It's true that "bug" in that sense dates back to the 19th century, but before that, it didn't necessarily mean "insect" - it could mean something like "malevolent spirit", as in Hamlet's "bugs and goblins".

I wrote a little more about this: https://jkaptur.com/bugs/

She goes on to say:

"I think it's rather nice that the Navy is keeping a few of the early artifacts like the first bug and me and a few other things."

> early artifacts like the first bug and me and a few other things

lovely, reminds me of an argentinian tv presenter that we make jokes about regarding her age (97 currently and going strong)

Go on.

sorry for no subtitles, but the context is her saying she got married by one of the Argentinian early patriots (?) https://youtu.be/AS3aue2B7Ak

Gracias!

Reminds me of the French supercentarian who credits her good health with having quit smoking (at the age of 103).

Without detracting from her humor, Thomas Edison and other before him e.g. wrote about bugs in the 19th century: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bug_(engineering)#History

Hopper's involvement is not about being the one to coin the term, but about being the first to find an actual, physical computer bug. It's clear from the story the implication was not that it was the first use of the term as in that case the joke would make no sense.

Right, otherwise the word "actual" wouldn't be in the notebook, which implies computer scientists were actively using the term prior to the event.

>> I love her sense of humor!

She appeared on the David Letterman show a few years later in 1986, https://hackcur.io/grace-hopper-on-letterman/.

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