The Real Reason We Call a Software Glitch a Bug 

A subject suggestion: who are the people depicted in notable currencies around the world and why were they chosen. Cheers!

Your mention of COBOL just gave all computer scientists over the age of 40 PTSD.

As a retired electronics technician, I so enjoyed the search for “bugs” and “gremlins”. The main difference from our perspective seems to be that bugs could be located by careful troubleshooting and analysis, while gremlins were very hard to find as they are so capricious. They could be here or there or not. Or there and not, but then here.

The term is older than I realized...

This is why I love this channel, I never thought it was actually not the first use.

Damn you Edison, he even stole the idea bugs too haha

BTW, the town in Washington State mentioned toward the end of your video is pronounced yak-uh-mah. Anyway, great video, lots of good info. Never realized the term 'bug' was so old.

I had the great honor of meeting Grace Harper when she was a guest lecturer at my Universities Computer Science department. She was very engaging and she told us all the story of the origin of the term debugging in computing. It was a quite different story from the Mark II incident. To hear her tell it, it became a daily task as engineers pushed groceries cats full of vacuum tubes to replace bulbs that had been short circuited by mouths attracted to the bulbs in the computes circuitry which became known as debugging the computer. Not discounting your more factual presentation, I'm sure she was most likely embellishing to make a more entertaining lecture. Not that it was needed. I was enraptured by every minute of her lecture. Though some 80 something year's old she was still on active duty with the navy. This was 1981. I was fortunate to be in the presence of living history at the time. She was known even then as the inventor of COBOL(COmmon Business Oriented Language) A great woman and fitting to remember her during Women's history month.

My Dad was an electrical engineer, he told me the "moth in the early computer" story when I was a kid. Yeah, I saw this title and was squealing, "OH! I know this one!" He also called the integrated circuits he salvaged from old computer boards "bugs" also, because they looked like rectangular centipedes with multiple sharp wire legs. You think it hurts to step on a Lego piece? Try stepping on an IC that has it's "legs" in the air! OUCH! I grew up in a house that smelled like solder and hot electronics. It was a GREAT childhood, Dad could fix and build many cool things. We had free HBO in the 1970s because Dad figured out how to intercept the microwave signal they used before it was cable. We had a funky antenna on the house made of a coffee can and something that looked like a ray gun from a 1950s B movie. Worked great! Caught my mom watching soft-core porn at @ 2 AM. She was SHOCKED that such filth was on TV! She only watched for a couple of hours, or 3. LOL! I know she only watched it to make sure it wasn't TOO raunchy, right? Best of all, when I asked Dad science questions, I got great answers. I was 5 when I asked him, "Why is the sky blue?" He brought out a crystal prism that was salvaged from a WWII tank periscope, and I got a cool lesson on the color spectrum and how some colors are absorbed and others reflected. When he told me that most insects can see colors we can't due to them seeing a different part of the spectrum, I suddenly loved insects. I was that weird kid going around telling other kids about how my "pet" June bug can see things they can't. Okay weirdo, this is why you sit alone at lunch! (Not alone! I had my insect buddy! lol)

Thank you for this. I am an electrical engineer with a focus on safety. I loved the portion about the Therac25. I have programmed and tested several medical and avionics devices, making sure that they are safe. The term 'Fail Safe' means that a device will be inherently safe when, not IF, it fails. I have had to add hardware safety features to devices to make sure that a patient, and operator, will be safe while treatment is occurring. And I am a huge fan of Admiral Grace Hopper.

I just thought because bugs are a pest we eliminate so a glitch was the technical equivalent

I guess Boeing didn't learn the lessons from AECL when building Starliner, and more tragically, the Max.

Software development is the realm where Murphy's law really comes into its own.

The other use of bug being to annoy. For example "stop bugging me with your complaining". A bug comes from this as just a thing that annoys or hinders your plans.

Thomas Edison was describing my entire life when programming. Frighteningly accurate for an entire century and a half ago

Its not a bug, its a feature. Bethesda's sales pitch.

I know of another famous bug: The Ariane IV software being used on an Ariane V rocket, which confused the rocket guidance system, causing it to think the rocket was way off its intended course, while in reality nothing was wrong. The result was that the self-destruction of the rocket was activated.

I was trying to figure out where "Ewekeema" Washington was, when I realized he meant Yakima.

The deadly Therac-25 bug was taught in the mandatory computer science ethics class I had to take in college. Made me realize there were certain fields I'd rather avoid entirely... and unfortunately the list of potentially deadly fields involving computer software is growing by the day.

Physical interlocks. EVERY TIME. The ability to KNOW that it can't operate is important.

I say this with love and respect, Simon. It's YAK-ee-mah, Washington. Not, yak-EE-muh.

Pronunciation of the place in Washington state (YAKIMA) you referred to late in this vid is Yak (long a) ima (short i, short a). Otherwise, very interesting. In my career as a software tester and QA manager, I chased down many bugs. Grace Hopper is a pretty famous person in the history of early computer development. Her demonstration of what a microsecond represented was shone as a 6 inch piece of wire, the length required for an electron to traverse space.

The reason I was taught (during an IT course in the early 1990s) - insects being caught inside the holes in punched programming cards which were in common use in the 1950s through 70s. These would cause the program or input data to have corruption so the you'd end up with unexpected results.

Admiral Grace Hopper - Legend!

Make this a two-part series, with the follow up "explaining why certain types of insects always find their way into powersupplys or sources of power"

Having worked with both hardware and software development for a fair bit of time. The terms "bug" and "glitch" are rarely interchangeable. A bug tends to be a logical fault with the system one developed, be it code or hardware. While a glitch is a problem outside of the logic that one is working on. A bug is simply a logical fault where the designer intended for one thing to be done, but where the logic actually won't do as the developer intended. Ie, the thing being done is still fully logical. While a glitch tends to be caused by a logical operation not giving the correct answer. Ie, 5+5 = 11 is a glitch. While an off by one error is a bug. In electronics a glitch can be due to signal integrity issues, or just having the hardware work close to its limits, making it a bit unstable. While a bug is when the logic is just incorrectly implemented and will always work differently than intended for the sections where the bug exists. (for an example if one incorrectly wired the inputs to an adder, so that one of the inputs have a pair of bit positions switched with each other. (For an example making a 2 into a 4 and vice versa for one of the terms.)) In computer science, one can though regard a bug outside of one's own code as a glitch, since it isn't part of the logic one has developed. But such should generally have a catch mechanism to ensure a fail safe if deemed necessary for the application.

In my college programming classes, I was known as the Reaper. I was really really good at breaking programs and code. I would hand over detailed note and revisions for the code. In my Micro pic class (programming mircochips) I had a bet with my professor that I found a bug with the test boards we used to try different chips on, they came with all sorts of things like LEDs, IO chips, motors and such. Well the bug allowed me to program a chip to turned on things and off in such a way that I lit the board on fire lol, ah the look on his face when I burnt up a $200 dollar test board.

The US Navy realized that a system to do anything had to be handled as a whole thing, not just each separate part, when it introduced nuclear power to ships (Admiral Rickover forced this concept) and, a few years later, in 1963, when the US Navy had to finally "bite the bullet" and realized that it could not maintain its new anti-aircraft guided missile systems, having to have contractors from the various hardware manufacturers for the components on the ship at all times to maintain them, which was unacceptable. They established the US Navy's Naval Ship Missile Systems Engineering Station (NSMSES, pronounced "Nemesis") on the Port Hueneme, California Construction Battalion (SeaBee) Center to figure out how to train sailors to maintain these very complex missile systems and devised testing and troubleshooting and repairing methods that sailors could be trained in that worked. By using a form of the Nuclear Propulsion Maintenance System, they developed the "Planned Maintenance System" for supporting complex electronics=based Navy weapon systems such as the missile weapons and, due to its success, this has spread to other Navy systems as a baseline method. When major digital-computer-based equipment began to replace the older analog-based devices, message transmission devices, and calculators (now digital computers), the importance of bug-free software became a major goal and eventually NSMSES (under several new names) adopted portions of the NASA Software Quality Assurance techniques, though due to personnel and cost limitations, this had to be a form of "Level 3", not NASA's full "Level 5" techniques. Software, as in most non-Navy industries, has become the major driving factor in problem solving and quality assurance efforts. That nuclear medical radiation machine problem has had profound echoes in most later software development work where injury or death can occur if the software fails.

I'd only ever heard of the moth incident. Technically it didn't short it out, it got stuck between two of the relay contacts preventing flow in that circuit. Cool that's there's a day relating to this. Great that the Therac incident was included too. That really is a scary example of what can go wrong with not properly tested software.

We put our lives in the hands of software engineers every day. You drive a modern car? Fly in planes? Step into the elevator in a new building? Everything is run by software. Given how complex computing systems are, it's amazing engineers have the track record they do. In end-user systems like a word processor, the consequences of a bug aren't as dire, so the market forces pushing companies to release new software quickly take precedence over formal testing methods and guaranteed reliability.

That was an utterly fascinating video and very well presented Simon, Bravo!

Oh yes, "bug" an old term. However I'd always thought that Grace Hopper first used the term. I'm still miffed at Edison for the shabby way that he treated Nikola Tesla. Thanks for the informative video!!!

Love it. A real classic TIFO letting us find out the origin of a term

Always assume your code will fail somewhere, and always try to account for that failure.

So it has nothing to do with things not working being 'all buggered up'?

I always wondered why we called it a bug

How does Sam produce TIFO videos while he's stuck in the basement with Danny 🤔

FWIW, I'm pretty sure that the world "bugbear," currently, is most often used by D&D players to describe a low-to-mid level that's basically a big, hairy goblin.

Suggestion: In American history, it has been noted that many of the native peoples had died after being given blankets riddled with smallpox. ...How? Had the original owners died? Did the delivery guy just not bother to wear his N95 mask, and he hacked all over them? And how long did it take to spread among tribes, and...well, how? And--once more, for good measure--how was it traced to said blankets being the disease vector? Thank you. Please keep up the good work.

I have a couple of friends who have pacemakers fitted, which connect to the internet. I know it is used for monitoring purposes, but I sincerely hope that there is no way to adjust the settings remotely. If so I dread the inevitable bugs and/or hacking and the potentially lethal consequences!

this was better then the paper I did in 5th grade for this exact topic

You're the best, British Vsauce!

Imagine someone being told "It's not a bug, it's a feature" right after being bombarded with excessive levels of radiation from the Therac 25, I'm sure they'd be lacking a sense of humour with regards to that line..... :S

I kind of figured that "bug" was not first used in 1947, but I had no idea that it was in use for such a long time!

Much older than I realized, I always thought that the first representation of the word bug was due to one of the first computers, a thing that can compute, being greased with something edible that attract bugs and their bodies clogging the mechanical system.

A feature is a bug with seniority. ~ Dave Bartley (programmer)

This was quite illuminating. I really had no clue the term was that old. Thank you for educating me! 👍🏻

But the first example of computer debugging being used as a term is still Grace Hopper...

Boy oh boy was that ever a BIG whoopsie on their part.

The ad has not finished playing yet for me. Let me test my computer science education. An actual insect caused a malfunction on an early computer and that is why errors are sometimes called bugs. Problems with computers take on different forms. You got syntax errors where something is causing the compiler to report something is wrong with your code. You also have runtime errors like the program does not do what it is intended to do (logical errors in the code that causes the program not to perform the task successfully or correctly) and exceptions. Exceptions are thrown when something bad happens like an index out of bounds exception (check you for loops and data structures) or maybe an input file isn't where it should be or is formatted incorrectly so that the program is unable to correctly parse the data.

I'm a simple man, I hear "inventor" Edison, I react.

Thomas Edison didn't find a bug, he found a "Guq"

As a professional software tester I get a little annoyed when "glitch" and "bug" are used interchangeably. They are not the same thing. While they both refer to software errors, a glitch is a temporary issue that often can't be replicated (usually caused by outside factors such as a power surge or environment) and a bug is a permanent, reproducible issue in the code (doing the same set of steps will reproduce the defect) that won't go away until it's tracked down and fixed. Video game speedrunners like to use the term "glitch" to refer to breaking the game's intended boundaries and rules in order to shortcut through the game, but if they are reproducible using the same set of steps (as they almost always are) they are technically a bug, not a glitch.

"How did the informal name for an insect.." The Hemiptera, the true bugs, are not an informally named. Today you found out.

I always just thought it was a twist of something acting buggy, hmm.

"Bug" is not an informal word for an insect. A bug is a type of insect characterized by a hard proboscis (Bugs "suck"), a lack of a pupal (?) stage, and forewings that aren't entirely membrane. Also, Daven could have told Simon it's pronounced "Yack ih muh", not "yuh KEEM uh".

At least, this kind of bug doesn't bite

When it comes to MSFT products, we call them a "undocumented feature".. ;)

That bugs me.

I had read an article years ago about the gremlins, and I actually thought it was a drug fueled rant. Wow. I'm looking this up again.

As an aspiring electrical engineer, and just a general tinkerer, I have never thought to ask this question... WTF.

keeping those algorithms happy.

Good video 👍

Therac. Theranos. Coincidence?

While the term "Spam" in IT really comes from the Monty Python sketch or is there also another earlier use?

A video on the hacker group anonymous and their various accredited acts?

Totally butchered my hometown name of, YAKIMA. Not surprised XD

The rising of the machine killers has been found bugs

Im guessing for the same reason as when homer goes to space and unleashes the ants. Insects in the system can degrade parts or cause a malfunction 🤷‍♂️

While watching various RU-vid sites, I kept wondering where that freakin' noise was coming from? It would only happen once in a while. Then I realized it was only on this guy's videos and it's his barely audible background music. Hey Simon, either turn it up or turn it off, will ya?

Demand Justice for Katie Johnson

I've seen what cockroaches can do to the inside of consumer electronics. Its not pretty. If you move from somewhere with a cockroach problem the fuckers will hitch a ride in your TV, computer, stereo, game deck, washing machine, fridge, etc.

its not a bug, its a surprise mechanic.

I always wondered about that. I’d heard the moth story and thought that’s where it originated. And just a small thing, it’s YAK-i-mah. Derived from the Yakama Indian tribe, so it’s not exactly easy to figure out. Like Issaquah, Spokane, Wenatchee, Cle Elul, etc. Given Blaze vids, you probably don’t care, buuuuut whatever. Figured I’d throw it in here anyway.

Brilliant coverage, Simon. I watched this because I thought I knew the whole story, and once again learned. A lot!! 8^)

Bugs; annoying in small numbers but a migraine when concentrated in key areas or as large hive.

Two totally different things... A bug is a problem in the code that prevents it from compiling...or compiles but results in a fatal error or program crash... Eg. Array out of bounds... Infinite loops... Dependency cycles.. Etc... A glitch is when the code compiles as intended but has unforseen consequences as intended by the programmer... At least, that's the correct way to look at it seeing as the original bug fried the entire computer... They are currently used almost interchangeably... But technically its wrong.... The original bug crashed the whole computer.. So infinite loops or program crashers or unable to compile should be classed as a bug... And anything that compiles correctly but was an oversight of the programmer with an unintended outcome should be classed as a glitch.... Technically they should be glitch fixes... They didn't threaten the integrity of a program they were just an oversight... But if its a total destruction scenario or refuses to compile because it would be total destruction it should be a bug fix... In biological terms a bug is basically a fatal disease versus a glitch as your run of the mill cold or flu... If you wanted to be extremely historically accurate a bug is anything that requires you to replace hardware...

I see Edison and I already know he "borrowed" it

It's not a bug, it's a creature.

Look at all the bugs

I did find that interesting. Thank you very much.

Suggestion: how fast is a “swallow.” Not the African or [un]laden variety, of which I’d expect references… anyhow, I refer to the muscle contraction(s) involved in food digestion. That said, if I remember what I was told, these contractions carry down into the large and small intestines. Anyhow, I’d love to hear the results.

You should make buisnessblaze videos that are about a subject that would be on a more formal channel but have your comedic commentary. It would be great.

I don’t think there is any such thing as a bug or glitch. Computers will do exactly what they are programmed to do.

i am finding this referencing of private letters as coining something akin to the origin of common knowledge term or usage 100years before the first computer textbook as moot. It is simply wrong to attribute this to Edison as it was not in any way common usage until after the Mark II, and certainly not in any form a meme until the era of the microcomputer. The origin for the meme word is the Mark II nothing else, not even Mr Edison can be attributed for that.

Yak-i-ma fantastic video

Coming next: "The Real Reason We Call a Software Bug a Glitch"

Apparently because IT people are no entomologists and do not see a difference between moths and bugs.

Simon is so subdued on this channel! 😂

I always thought it was because massive old computers physically got bugs in them

Interesting and quite a bit older than it imagined.

Software code is reliable as the humans who develop such code.

Hey finally! A Lazer cutter for humans

So I’d this actually the one thing Tomas Edison genuinely invented??????????????????????????????????????!????????

Speaking of bugs, when are we doing Star Citizen as a MEGAPROJECT

Huh... good to know... but Simon, Yakima is pronounced YAK-i-maw

Edison probably stole it too.

Fantastic video!

Before video: Was it because a moth or fly got trapped inside one of those old cabinet computers in like WWII or something? After video: Okay, so that was what made it commonplace for computers specifically, but the term is older than that. That is interesting. Keeping this one tagged.

Bug aka undocumented design feature