Check out this article:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08068/863474-371.stm
Craig
DMW
Interesting story.
Just as a side note, it's interesting how engineers used to be portrayed positively - movies were made in the old days of engineers designing and building bridges or railroads or roads or whatever, with the cheif engineer (played by John Wayne, Fred MacMurray, Randolph Scott etc.) being handsome and heroic in battling the odds and nature and inevitably completing their job and winning the hand of the beautiful girl. Yet now engineers - especially electronic / computer guys - are always portrayed as "nerds" or "geeks", basically losers with no life.
Yep,
I have known about this for years. Every once in a while a story surfaces which reminds us or educates noobs on this colorful history of the term hacker.
Here is another one for computer geeks. The term bug in your software comes from real bugs. In my programming days back in college around 1980, my professor explained that back in the days of early computers which filled rooms and had mechancial relay switches, insects would get caught in the mechancial switches. (a computer is really just a massive number of logical switches operating in electronic from, controlled by a program) When the bugs were caught in the switches, the program could not run so someone would literally have to "debug" or clean out the bugs form the switches to allow the mechnical switches to all operate normally (opening and closing the contacts).
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
riogrande5761 wrote: Yep,I have known about this for years. Every once in a while a story surfaces which reminds us or educates noobs on this colorful history of the term hacker.Here is another one for computer geeks. The term bug in your software comes from real bugs. In my programming days back in college around 1980, my professor explained that back in the days of early computers which filled rooms and had mechancial relay switches, insects would get caught in the mechancial switches. (a computer is really just a massive number of logical switches operating in electronic from, controlled by a program) When the bugs were caught in the switches, the program could not run so someone would literally have to "debug" or clean out the bugs form the switches to allow the mechnical switches to all operate normally (opening and closing the contacts).
Urban legend. See http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwordorigins/bugs or
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_bug
Gary
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
Dallas Model Works wrote: Check out this article:http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08068/863474-371.stm
Cute story, but it's not true.
Computers evolved from mechanical tabulating machines long before the late 50s. "ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer), the first large-scale, general purpose, digital computer. ENIAC was initially built for the United States military to calculate the paths of artillery shells. It was later used to make calculations for nuclear weapons research, weather prediction, and wind tunnel design. ENIAC was introduced to the public in February 1946". ENIAC was built by American physicist John W. Mauchly and American electrical engineer John Presper Eckert, Jr., at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering, University of Pennsylvania.
The earliest computers were machines built to make repetitive numerical calculations that had previously been done by hand. By the 1890s calculating machines were used to tabulate the U.S. Census with a punched-card system invented by Herman Hollerith. Electromechanical calculators were being built by the 1930s, especially by a new company called the International Business Machines Company (IBM) in Endicott, NY.
Actually, if you want the FIRST computer, it is probably the abacus who's origin is almost prehistoric. Or perhaps the slide rule.
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
"Techman" must belong to the Jason Blair school of Journalism
All of the modern meanings seem to be rooted in its widespread use as slang throughout the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), starting in the 1960s. There, the original meaning of "hack" was a quick, elaborate and/or bodged solution students devised for technical obstacle; it was used with hacker, meaning one who discovers and implements a hack. The word itself comes from the German word meaning "someone who makes furniture with an axe" [1], implying a lack of finesse in a "hack"; it is believed by many in the hacking community that the reason for this is because programs too large to run on the limited computer resources of the time had portions "chopped" or "hacked" out in order to be reduced to a more reasonable size.
-George
"And the sons of Pullman porters and the sons of engineers ride their father's magic carpet made of steel..."
wjstix wrote: Interesting story. Just as a side note, it's interesting how engineers used to be portrayed positively - movies were made in the old days of engineers designing and building bridges or railroads or roads or whatever, with the cheif engineer (played by John Wayne, Fred MacMurray, Randolph Scott etc.) being handsome and heroic in battling the odds and nature and inevitably completing their job and winning the hand of the beautiful girl. Yet now engineers - especially electronic / computer guys - are always portrayed as "nerds" or "geeks", basically losers with no life.
Or my personal favorite - Gary Cooper as Howard Roark in The Fountainhead!
garya wrote: riogrande5761 wrote: Yep,I have known about this for years. Every once in a while a story surfaces which reminds us or educates noobs on this colorful history of the term hacker.Here is another one for computer geeks. The term bug in your software comes from real bugs. In my programming days back in college around 1980, my professor explained that back in the days of early computers which filled rooms and had mechancial relay switches, insects would get caught in the mechancial switches. (a computer is really just a massive number of logical switches operating in electronic from, controlled by a program) When the bugs were caught in the switches, the program could not run so someone would literally have to "debug" or clean out the bugs form the switches to allow the mechnical switches to all operate normally (opening and closing the contacts).Urban legend. See http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwordorigins/bugs orhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_bug
Maybe. Maybe not. Links don't make it Gospel. My prof was pretty close to the source and old enough in the late 70's to remember those days! I used Hollerith cards in my first programming classes and those certainly were mechanical devices which a bug could clog. I'm inclined to believe the slang "bug" could easily have come from such incidences, whether or not they are officially recognized in the press or on interent web sites.
riogrande5761 wrote: Maybe. Maybe not. Links don't make it Gospel. My prof was pretty close to the source and old enough in the late 70's to remember those days! I used Hollerith cards in my first programming classes and those certainly were mechanical devices which a bug could clog. I'm inclined to believe the slang "bug" could easily have come from such incidences, whether or not they are officially recognized in the press or on interent web sites.
Here's a link to the Smithsonian: http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object.cfm?key=35&objkey=30
If you don't believe internet links, you could look in a book, like the Oxford English Dictionary.
I'm sure there was a time the Smithsonian library contained credible documents claiming that most illnesses were the result of "bad air" and "bathing too frequently". Add to that that women were prone to hysteria and other maladies to which no self-respecting man would succumb.
-Crandell
A computerized dental oven I worked on had a bug. Actually, a mouse had gone in through a vent and died in the circuitry. By the way, Liked the article. tks.
cooltech
I can't resist.
It was a moth - in the Mark II, I believe. Later computer relays were encased and insects could not enter. I recall a relay based digital clock at RPI. Accurate to a thousandth of I second and made quite an interesting set of rhythmic clicks and clunks.
But technically a moth is NOT a bug. A moth is a Lepidoptera while a true bug is a hemepterin.
(I hope I spelled those correctly )
Karl
The mind is like a parachute. It works better when it's open. www.stremy.net
All of the modern meanings seem to be rooted in its widespread use as slang throughout the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), starting in the 1960s. There, the original meaning of "hack" was a quick, elaborate and/or bodged solution students devised for technical obstacle; it was used with hacker, meaning one who discovers and implements a hack. The word itself comes from the German word meaning "someone who makes furniture with an axe" (1), implying a lack of finesse in a "hack"; it is believed by many in the hacking community that the reason for this is because programs too large to run on the limited computer resources of the time had portions "chopped" or "hacked" out in order to be reduced to a more reasonable size.-George
All of the modern meanings seem to be rooted in its widespread use as slang throughout the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), starting in the 1960s. There, the original meaning of "hack" was a quick, elaborate and/or bodged solution students devised for technical obstacle; it was used with hacker, meaning one who discovers and implements a hack. The word itself comes from the German word meaning "someone who makes furniture with an axe" (1), implying a lack of finesse in a "hack"; it is believed by many in the hacking community that the reason for this is because programs too large to run on the limited computer resources of the time had portions "chopped" or "hacked" out in order to be reduced to a more reasonable size.
Well, I was there. "Hack," used as either a noun or a verb, referred to pretty much any non-productive or recreational activity. So, playing cards in the hall might be a "Hearts Hack" or a "Bridge Hack." It's important to remember that class-related computer work, even at MIT, was pretty limited. Most computers were still big mainframes, encased in glass-walled showrooms that only the High Priests and their acolytes could enter. A computer hacker was doing non-productive or fun things with the computer. Pete Sampson, who may have been one of the first people to play with computer graphics by writing a "Space War" game, gained fame as a hacker but flunked out because he neglected his coursework.
Hacking was not supposed to be harmful or malicious. It was all in the spirit of good fun.
Incidentally, when I was there, we still had a group of "temporary" buildings on campus, left over from World War II. Building 20 was the home of the effort that developed radar during the war, and it continued to be used for office space and research activities until the end of the century. Building 20 had a basement. Guess what techies put in their basements:
http://tmrc.mit.edu/
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Phoebe Vet wrote: Actually, if you want the FIRST computer, it is probably the abacus who's origin is almost prehistoric. Or perhaps the slide rule.
The first computers were people; it was a job title. They would sit and do hand calculations for anything that needed calculating, i.e., many of the same things electronic computers do today. From keeping the accounting books of businesses or government (someone had to keep track of all that tax money) to techninal calculations at universities or government agencies. As with Eniac, one of the big military jobs was calculating trajectories of cannon shells at various target ranges and elevations.
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
Phoebe Vet wrote: Dallas Model Works wrote: Check out this article:http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08068/863474-371.stm Cute story, but it's not true. Computers evolved from mechanical tabulating machines long before the late 50s. "ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer), the first large-scale, general purpose, digital computer. ENIAC was initially built for the United States military to calculate the paths of artillery shells. It was later used to make calculations for nuclear weapons research, weather prediction, and wind tunnel design. ENIAC was introduced to the public in February 1946". ENIAC was built by American physicist John W. Mauchly and American electrical engineer John Presper Eckert, Jr., at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering, University of Pennsylvania.The earliest computers were machines built to make repetitive numerical calculations that had previously been done by hand. By the 1890s calculating machines were used to tabulate the U.S. Census with a punched-card system invented by Herman Hollerith. Electromechanical calculators were being built by the 1930s, especially by a new company called the International Business Machines Company (IBM) in Endicott, NY. Actually, if you want the FIRST computer, it is probably the abacus who's origin is almost prehistoric. Or perhaps the slide rule.
Accualy the first programmable binary computer was Zuse Z3 from 1941 made by the German computer engineer Konrad Zuse http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z3_%28computer%29
The first non-programmable computer was made by Wilhelm Schickard in 1623. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Schickard
/Stefan