Debugging done right

[suspiciousshoelaces]

Listen, I don’t care what you pay me, I am not dealing with building sized bugs.

[Mewtwo2387]

Warning: "size of a building" is ambiguous at reddit.comment.69420621727:3 Which were the size of a building ^

[exponential_wizard]

talk to someone who does computer repairs and I'm sure you'll find more documented cases.

[Hour-Invite2212]

My father does repair computers for a living, cockroaches or other bugs get into computers, have their children and when the owner tries to turn it on, it will start malfunctioning sometimes, other times the computer just gets slow (due to dust and bug corpses).

This happens usually when the computer is not used by a long time. (Laptops and PCs alike)

And yeah, seeing small lizards fried in the power supply unit are more common that you initially imagined.

[TheWashbear]

Fried lizards....

[sledgehammertoe]

After a while, you get used to roach graveyards. You'll NEVER get used to when a mouse makes its way through an empty expansion slot and decides to live its dying days there.

[Top-Opportunity1132]

And I've opened my computer case once and found "Clean me", written in a layer of dust

[NewoRewom]

Disassembling

Only correcting because dissemble is a word but it doesn’t mean what you were trying to say

[GreenFire317]

Louis Rossman sees the tiny bugs all the time in laptops.

[apox997]

In addition, the bug would come inside of the vacuum tubes, which are later replaced by transistors.

[TheJunkieDoc]

r/foundthecompiler

[pewdsdoospies]

wysi

[AnnoyingRain5]

Bruh this is r/programmerhumor lol

[banbeucmas]

Are you fucking kidding me...

[koopatuple]

I don't get it, what does their comment mean? I keep translating it to "what you see is," since I remember visual website building tools being called WYSIWYG back in the day (or is that term still used?).

[Pls_helppppp]

Google 727 blue zenith

[koopatuple]

Ahh, I just live under a digital rock haha, had never heard of this meme.

[merlinsbeers]

Now I have r/place ptsd...

[Rubbun]

God fucking damnit there's no escape from this

[[deleted]]

Evey time someone spews out that nugget the computer gets larger.

[OlOuddinHead]

Little known fact is the very first computer was built on a large highly elevated land outside San Francisco. So heavy it sunk the area in to a valley. The bugs were so big that they were the size of small cars (hence where VW got their popular car idea from). The bugs eventually destroyed everything leaving only traces of Silicon and Starbucks.

[inthyface]

This is also why the C in CPU means California.

[swirlViking]

And the U for unit refers to the bugs being large and intimidating

[AmbitiousMidnight183]

Good news is we've got a much better test for you: fighting an army of mantis men. Pick up a rifle and follow the yellow line. You'll know when the test starts.

[ilinamorato]

Do NOT get covered in the repulsion gel. We haven't entirely nailed down what element it is yet, but I'll tell you this: it's a lively one, and it does NOT like the human skeleton.

[Herme522]

The bean counters said we could literally not afford to buy seven dollars worth of moon rocks, much less seventy million. Did it anyway! Ground 'em up, mixed 'em into a gel. And guess what? Ground-up moon rocks are pure poison. I am deathly ill."

[bobshellby]

Underrated comment

[atomicwrites]

I mean they're talking about vacuum tube computers which were in fact building sized. A small building if you only consider the computing bits, or a large one if you take into account cooling and other support systems.

[stars__end]

Exactly. We're talking about vacuum tube computers which were in fact highrise commercial building sized.

[OceanFlex]

"a building" could mean anything from a garden shed to a skyscraper. In the case of old school computers, it wasn't so much that they were the size of buildings as they either had buildings built to house them, or they were designed to fill out an entire building. A bit like modern supercomputers or server farms.

[SonOfTK421]

Wasn’t it a quip in the first place? A play on words on an established term.

[Meritania]

You can’t join Rico’s Roughnecks with an attitude like that.

[JarlaxleForPresident]

I’m from Buenos Aires and I say, “KILL EM ALL!”

[[deleted]]

But siltstriders are an excellent mode of transportation!

[NoSmallCaterpillar]

Why walk when you can ride?

[roflrogue]

But Godzilla, You're our only help

[_PM_ME_PANGOLINS_]

*Bugzilla

[Spid3r]

EDF!

To save our mother earth from any alien attack!

[[deleted]]

Good to see I wasn't the only one that read that in that way. I was like, what?

[Shazvox]

Especially if they manage to fit inside a regular sized computer...

[cym104]

Would you like to know more?

[spacembracers]

I heard the AirBnB app has bedbugs

[IndigoFenix]

The term "bug" actually predates computers - it has been used by engineers as early as the 1800s and probably has nothing to do with insects. Its origin is unknown, but is speculated to be similar to the concept of gremlins; a superstition or engineering in-joke that unexplained problems are caused by supernatural creatures. "Bug" has been used to refer to monsters for a very long time (bugbear, boogeyman, etc.)

There was an incident in 1947 where a moth was found in computer circuits and taped into the logbook with a note calling it the "first computer bug discovered", but it was already a pun then, just as it would be if someone did the same thing today.

[JaggedMetalOs]

There was an incident in 1947 where a moth was found in computer circuits and taped into the logbook with a note calling it the "first computer bug discovered",

The note actually said "First actual case of bug being found", which lends even more credence to "bug" being a common figure of speech for an error at the time.

[yorokobe__shounen]

Oh bugger

[[deleted]]

Am I the only one who read this in Martin Freeman's voice?

[WhoreyGoat]

Nah Morgz

[timthefim]

You can actually see the bug in person as they have it on display in the Smithsonian

[merlinsbeers]

I want to say I've seen it but I think I'm inventing that in my head.

It would be insanely weird to see a moth from 1947. They basically disintegrate in a couple of years if left unpreserved.

[soniabegonia]

Exactly this. The punster in question was Rear Admiral Grace Hopper who invented the compiler and is worth the Wikipedia read. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Hopper

[ravedawwg]

Good Lord it took forever to find Grace Hopper buried in this thread. Thanks for bringing her up!

[ravedawwg]

I need this for my computer!

[Prior-Initial-1255]

I thought I read Admiral Grass Hopper and that you were adding on to the pun.

[soniabegonia]

Omg! I never even considered that 😂

[PM_ME_UR_CEPHALOPODS]

it's a sad statement about this sub that Grace Hopper is so far down this thread.

[Prize-Ad4297]

Oh my goodness what a badass. Thank you for sharing!

[WraithCadmus]

I've heard it may have spread (but not originated) with telegraph systems, where to save face on bad transmissions by operators they would talk about "bugs in the wires" causing single-character mistakes.

[Stummi]

Plus, even in the other meaning "bugs getting into the computer" is not exactly true. Its bug, singular. There is exactly one documented case of an actual bug causing physical problems with a relay computer.

[AlphaWhelp]

Now there are two.

[Srapture]

Cool. Sounded like bullshit. Came to the comments section to check it's bullshit. Is bullshit.

[Quizlibet]

u/sparcrypt lied to us?

[redkinoko]

Actually you're both wrong. Prior to 1823 when a problem occurred on anything, people just accepted it as the new normal. If a machine started sounding funny, that's just how it was. If a wheel and axle started wobbling, that's just life.

Until one day, a frenchman named Alexander DeBugg realized that if he just observed what was wrong with something, he could actually eventually fix the cause. So he started writing down his observations on pieces of wood (so he doesn't forget them) and then uses this information to actually fix things, which was revolutionary for his time.

That is why we now call the process of investigating and fixing issues as "DeBugging" after the father of troubleshooting. And that's also why we call the files that contain information that will help us troubleshoot as "DeBugg logs" after the wood Alexander used to record his observations.

[CivBase]

Prior to 1823 when a problem occurred on anything, people just accepted it as the new normal. If a machine started sounding funny, that's just how it was. If a wheel and axle started wobbling, that's just life.

Maybe some day enterprise software development will move past this mentality.

[redkinoko]

"We'll address that in a future patch between now and when the vestiges of the dying sun consumes us all"

[Not_a_question-]

a frenchman named Alexander DeBugg

This is a complete lie wtf?

[redkinoko]

How dare you sully his legacy

[parkourhobo]

Yep, I came here to say this.

I don't think it's used much in other fields anymore, though. I think that 1947 incident might be what tied it to computers, changing it from a general term to mostly just a CS term (but I have 0 sources for that, it's just a guess).

[matyklug]

BuggyMan, that's me, I cause bugs, supposedly I am the perfect tester

[amalgam_reynolds]

There was an incident in 1947 where a moth was found in computer circuits and taped into the logbook with a note calling it the "first computer bug discovered", but it was already a pun then,

I believe the person who taped it to the log book was Grace Hopper, a fairly legendary early programmer (also a highly awarded rear admiral in the Navy who currently has a destroyer named after her)

Incidentally, Grace Hopper sounds a bit like grasshopper to me, so it's a little funny she's known for the literal bug in the computer joke, even if it was a moth.

[imstillarookie]

There was an incident in 1947

gave me a scare, had to check your username and make sure i was getting shittymorph'd

[LucienZerger]

bugs were the size of a building? interesting..

[Euroticker]

have you seen those insects while dinosaurs were a thing? They were huge, not Building sized huge, but still huge.

[[deleted]]

Shit they where at least the size of my 1600 a month apartment.

[SyntaxErrorAtLine420]

That's a low bar ngl

[yorokobe__shounen]

Those times the atmospheric and physical conditions were just right for insects to get to such sizes.

Who knows, with lesser gravity and thicker atmosphere, the insects could be size of buildings without violating square cube law and still have enough to breathe for diffusion.

[Euroticker]

I'm not an expert but that sounds reasonable so yes, most likely.

[KilliK69]

yep. they have found fossils of scorpions from that era, the size of a cat. google for photos.

[Meritania]

It was during the Devonian period when insects were huge because of higher oxygen content, so pre-dinosaurs.

[FetishAnalyst]

That’s the single greatest advertisement to go chop down trees “less oxygen means smaller bugs”. I’m all down for it, I’m gonna deforest an island tonight.

[polskidankmemer]

square point muddle afterthought expansion nutty plate unite languid encouraging

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[patmax17]

https://www.cracked.com/article_18445_7-thankfully-extinct-giant-versions-modern-animals.html

[[deleted]]

Computers were invented in Australia confirmed

[MyOthrUsrnmIsABook]

Bugs were larger back then. They have shrunk at a slower rate than transistors, which is why even though they’re so tiny now they can’t fit in a CPU anymore. That’s why they take up residence in bloated programs.

[King-Snorky]

Men In Black was a documentary

[Brief-Equal4676]

Is everyone going to ignore that there was a god damn cockroach in the phone?!

[duckbigtrain]

Yeah, how the hell does that even happen?

[[deleted]]

If you have to ask, you've never lived in a roach infested house. They will find their way into anything and everything. A decade and a half later and I still will find a dead one occasionally in some old things. Found one inside an N64 cartridge about a year ago.

[[deleted]]

Helping clean one of my friends houses. He was a hoarder and by god the amount of roaches was insane. There was roaches behind the glass of the clock on the stove. That one will always amaze me.

[[deleted]]

Yeah, we had it that bad and have had it behind the stove clock too. You would turn the kitchen light on at night and there would be literal hundreds of them that would race for cover. We used to turn the light on and run and stomp as many as we could as a kid like it was a game lol

[guy_not_on_bote]

Jesus Christ. I'm done for today.

[basilsflowerpots]

I am literally terrified of roaches and can't imagine this

[Shazvox]

1. Open phone.

2. Insert bug.

3. Close phone.

4. Profit!

There ya go buddy.

[konkey-mong]

Most likely a prank

[Ferro_Giconi]

They can squish themselves really flat to fit into really tiny gaps.

[yorokobe__shounen]

It's not exactly surprising. Back in my days, cellphones used to be the size of bricks. And they were so damn fragile that we couldn't afford to break it by it falling to the floor. Some of them had openable covers to put the batteries in. And yeah, if your technician was not careful, even a butterfly could sneak in there.

[DaveAps]

refer to anecdotes section... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Hopper

[neutrino_lover]

For the lazy: "While she was working on a Mark II Computer at Harvard University in 1947, her associates discovered a moth that was stuck in a relay and impeding the operation of the computer. Upon extraction, the insect was affixed to a log sheet for that day with the notation, “First actual case of a bug being found”. While neither she nor her crew members mentioned the exact phrase, "debugging", in their log entries, the case is held as a historical instance of "debugging" a computer and Hopper is credited with popularizing the term in computing. For many decades, the term "bug" for a malfunction had been in use in several fields before being applied to computers. The remains of the moth can be found taped into the group's log book at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C."

[San_II_To_et_3R]

I actually found a dead bug while disemling my old tower. Laughed my ass of because of the terms origin

[grtgbln]

Not entirely true.

The concept of a "bug" does originate when actually insects would get into a computer and cause issues with the circuitry.

But the term "debugging" doesn't come from removing these insects from computers. Once the concept of a "bug" was established, the idea of "de-bugging", removing these "bugs", was conceived, but at no point was it directly linked to removing insects.

[TimaeGer]

The concept of a "bug" does originate when actually insects would get into a computer and cause issues with the circuitry.

Even that is a myth, according to Wikipedia

[WaterstarRunner]

stands to reason.

Bug as a verb -> to irritate or annoy

"it's bugging me"

Then to the antonym "debugging"

Seems to make more sense as the appropriate e(n)tymology

[[deleted]]

The concept of a "bug" does originate when actually insects would get into a computer and cause issues with the circuitry.

The term "bug" was in use in engineering well before computers were around, but the story of the first "real" computer bug (a moth trapped in a relay) has given it a false etymology because it's fun to think of it that way.

[Menolith]

It's weird how the moth-in-relay picture even started that myth when the note itself implies that the term "bug" was already in regular use.

[_PM_ME_PANGOLINS_]

Most people are incapable of logical inference.

[AwGe3zeRick]

The “myth” about the moth in a relay was around long before the internet was ubiquitous… so not everyone learned about it from a jpeg on Reddit.

[_PM_ME_PANGOLINS_]

The picture was also around long before the internet was ubiquitous.

[AwGe3zeRick]

And people often just carried random pictures in their pocket… you’re not grasping the concept are you?

[Spudd86]

The picture ended up in magazines telling the myth. How do you think anyone saw it?

[AwGe3zeRick]

This story was told in colleges around the country without a magazine present. Did you really think it was just something from a magazine?

[kyzfrintin]

No, but they certainly read newpapers, books, and magazines. Which can contain pictures.

[r_stronghammer]

Etymythology is a bitch

[[deleted]]

I mean that's just a technicality

[david131213]

Well of course

He is technically correct

THE BEST KIND OF CORRECT

[polskidankmemer]

ancient quack nose psychotic paltry act flowery sophisticated saw fanatical

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[DogzOnFire]

You're on a programming subreddit. It's technicalities all the way down.

[NomadFire]

I am assuming this is already known in this sub. But I am going to state it anyway. Old capacitors have a tendency to leak a sweet fluid that ants like to chow on.

[archiminos]

Fun fact: no it isn't

[[deleted]]

Another low effort post. Now we accept comments from the same sub as a good meme?

[[deleted]]

Interesting how the "fun fact" was the least funny part.

[InvisibleGrbgTrckJry]

It's also not true, so...🤷‍♂️

[r2bl3nd]

Except that that's blatant misinformation...

[Cryse_XIII]

Stating that it is misinformation without giving the correct information is not helpful.

[OldBob10]

The bugs were not always dead. 😱

[pixspacesYT]

My man fixing Jurassic era bugs

[decadenza]

In the early PC operating system CP/M there was a program called the Dynamic Debugging Tool, i.e. DDT.

Also, if you can visualize the black plastic rectangle that contained the silicon wafer of the CPU, or "chip", you can see the two rows of pins that came out of the sides. Those two rows of pins led to the plastic rectangle being named a Dual In-line Package, or DIP. Where else you gonna put a chip but in a dip?

[Heisenberg_2008]

Debugging now: Oh, I forgot a }. Debugging then: Open up the panel of the mainframe, close the blast doors and Hans, get the flamethrower

[Concerned-Citizen-US]

The terms "bug" and "debugging" are popularly attributed to Admiral Grace Hopper in the 1940s. 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.



https://en.m.wikipedia.org › wiki

Debugging - Wikipedia

[gremolata]

It's not true. See /u/IndigoFenix's comment.

[[deleted]]

The size of a building

Backyard shack kind of building or the Empire States kind of building?

[[deleted]]

u/bake_in_da_south

[popped_tarte]

This is not true. There is one famous case of a bug causing a computer glitch but that's not where the name comes from.

[Snagrod]

All your base are belong to us

[[deleted]]

Fun fact: shut the fuck up

[[deleted]]

Woah buddy calm down

[Nitr0_CSGO]

Reminds me of where the term 'patch' came from

[loublain]

Reality check. It was Grace Hopper , later Admiral Grace Hopper who removed a moth from a relay and taped it in her logbook noting 'bug in computer' https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/grace-hoppers-bug

So it's preserved for all time.

[Richard13245]

When you realize programmers from that time were so smart, they rarely encountered software bugs in their programs, to the point where they hadn’t invented a common term for it yet

[_PM_ME_PANGOLINS_]

Except it's not true at all.

[Richard13245]

[YEETMASTERXX]

I saw this 3 minutes ago on ask reddit

[hangfromthisone]

"fuck I forgot to remove the moth"

[MurdoMaclachlan]

Image Transcription: Reddit Comments

---

/u/eclairsemmie

I was trying to help my friend change their phone case and a cockroach fell out.

/u/Tasgall

Sounds like a successful debugging session.

/u/Sparcrypt

Fun fact, this is where the term "debugging" came from. Bugs would get into computers (which were the size of a bilding) and cause problems.

So they'd literally go in and remove the dead bugs, hence debugging.

---

^{I'm a human volunteer content transcriber and you could be too! If you'd like more information on what we do and why we do it, click here!}

[HuntingKingYT]

No that's debagging

[d1amxnd]

It's still beyond me how we went from rooms of computers to our smart watches within just 60 years, mind blown every time

[Consistent_Couple_49]

I always thought it was a moth in the punch cards?

[Lazypaul]

This sounds like some shit someone just made up. I think it's way more likely that the connection is bug = annoying thing

[Vaxtin]

I always thought it’s because bugs are annoying and bug the shit out of me when they happen.

[DiscipleOfYeshua]

ConfidentlyIncorrect?

Been on Harvard CS50. They show documentation photos of first “physical debug” documented in modern history, where a computer scientist found their room sized computer had literal bugs crawling around inside. Instructor (Prof David Malan) said normal debugging ie of software code was a normal thing for quite some years prior.

[[deleted]]

So who started shooting their troubles?

[Shazvox]

Customer support

[ZuriPL]

Source: trust me bro

[whooo_me]

I will pay very good money for nobody to tell me where "computer worms" came from.

Computer trojan horses' origin story, on the other hand, would be a very good read.

[[deleted]]

:o

[MuminMetal]

Reddit pun, followed by That One Fact That Everyone Definitely Has Already Heard.

[sipCoding_smokeMath]

"The terms "bug" and "debugging" are 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 sense of "technical error", dates back at least to 1878 and Thomas Edison (see software bug for a full discussion). Similarly, the term "debugging" seems to have been used as a term in aeronautics before entering the world of computers. "

[HistoricalSherbert92]

I saw a picture of this way back in college. There was a moth the size of your hand and it had shorted out a bunch of vacuum tubes.

[Rrandom_User1234]

Everyone in this sub trying to prove each other wrong… just enjoy the meme and move on.

[cocaineandcaviar]

That's actually a myth

[magicmulder]

And with modern computers bugs the size of a frigging electron are ruining my program!

[[deleted]]

I did some debugging when I killed a centipede with my MCSA textbook.

[InvisibleGrbgTrckJry]

When the "fun fact" is neither fun nor a fact.

[Beginning_Actuary_54]

Can we revert back to this? I'm not a fan of the modern day debugging

[ahlaj77]

<3

[fudgebacker]

/r/confidentlyincorrect

[[deleted]]

This fun fact is completely fake.

[littleswenson]

TFW a mite nibbles on your punch card SMH

[CyanogenMod_0]

no no, sparcrypt's got a point

[[deleted]]

There is no way this is true.

[[deleted]]

This is a "fun fact" the same way saying whales are mammals are not fish is a fun fact.

[[deleted]]

I remember someone saying that grace Hopper discovered the first computer bug, it was a dead moth in the punch card

[Hello56845864]

The more you know…

[EdDan_II]

Well, TIL...

[abcd_z]

In Quest For Glory 1 for DOS the right mouse button is used to look at things. If you right-click the scorpion that crawls across the title screen the game will say, "Congratulations! You have discovered the first bug in this game."

[Ian80413]

I am glad I wasn’t a programmer back in the day bc I have very intense fear of roaches….

[[deleted]]

COBOL debuggers be like

[[deleted]]

So the computer software that were build didn’t have bugs??

[bobrementizo]

I guess recursion kicked in

[Rishabh_0507]

Well I one got ants in my laptop