The Origin of Bugs 🐛

How computer bugs were first found and "debugged" · Try a code challenge · Ask our CEO anything · Google's key search algorithm, explained · Read more in our newsletter! Newsletter #34 September 7, 2017 Essential news, trends, and stories from Codecademy and the world of code. The "First Bug": Found 70 Years Ago September 9, 1947: Grace Hopper's computer science team at Harvard encounters puzzling errors and technical glitches with the Harvard Mark II computer. Eventually, operators trace these glitches to their source: a dead moth in a relay. Placing the moth in their log book, they cemented a new meaning of the word "bug." While the team's insect encounter popularized the terms bug and debugging, theirs was merely the most literal of a long line of "bugs" that have preyed upon even the greatest of programmers and engineers for hundreds of years: - Ada Lovelace first noted how software can contain errors in 1843 - In 1873, Thomas Edison invented a "bug trap" to isolate false telegraph breaks and coined the term "bug" - 1892: Thomas Sloane's Standard Electrical Dictionary defines bugs as "any fault or trouble in the… working of [an] electrical apparatus" What will you debug? [MAKE HISTORY: CODE SOMETHING]( In Other News Ask Zach Anything This week, our Founder & CEO is answering your questions about the future of work, tech and education on Quora. Tune in on [Quora](. Code Challenge: Test Your Scripting Skills Thousands of coders have tested their skills with our weekly code challenges: brain teasers used in real job interviews. How do your skills measure up? [Take this week's challenge]( and [see last week's answers](. This Week in Tech History: Google Patents their First Search Algorithm, PageRank September 4, 2001: Google's founders are granted a patent on the algorithm they use to rank search results. [Find out more]( about how PageRank works. [CODE SOMETHING]( Connect with Us Codecademy 49 W 27th Street, New York, NY 10001 [Codecademy on Facebook]( [Codecademy on Twitter]( [Codecademy on Instagram]( [Codecademy on LinkedIn]( [Codecademy Forums]( [Unsubscribe]( from these alerts.