Forum Software Update

[ashaffer]

Hi,

I've updated the phpBB forum software to 2.0.17, so let me know if there are any glitches or bugs.

Thanks,

Andrew

[tcward]

Cool! I'll keep my eyes peeled...

-Tim

[Brazilian dude]

I've updated the phpBB forum software to 2.0.17, so let me know if there are any glitches or bugs.

Would I know the difference?

Brazilian dude

[KatyBr]

I'm with ya, BD, are glitches the little green ones and the bugs the grey ones with the big eyes?

Katy

[Stargzer]

A glitch appears to be a minor and often transitory or random phenomenon.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

glitch

PRONUNCIATION: glĭch

NOUN: 1. A minor malfunction, mishap, or technical problem; a snag: a computer glitch; a navigational glitch; a glitch in the negotiations. 2. A false or spurious electronic signal caused by a brief, unwanted surge of electric power. 3. Astronomy A sudden change in the period of rotation of a neutron star.

ETYMOLOGY: Probably from Yiddish glitsh, a slip, lapse, from glitshn, to slip, from Middle High German glitschen, alteration of glīten, to glide, from Old High German glītan. See ghel-[sup]2[/sup] in Appendix I.

OTHER FORMS: glitchy —ADJECTIVE

WORD HISTORY: Although glitch seems a word that people would always have found useful, it is first recorded in English in 1962 in the writing of John Glenn: “Another term we adopted to describe some of our problems was ‘glitch.’ ” Glenn then gives the technical sense of the word the astronauts had adopted: “Literally, a glitch is a spike or change in voltage in an electrical current.” It is easy to see why the astronauts, who were engaged in a highly technical endeavor, might have generalized a term from electronics to cover other technical problems. Since then glitch has passed beyond technical use and now covers a wide variety of malfunctions and mishaps.

Bug with a capital B is a river in Eastern Europe.

The bug we are concerned with is a defect that is not necessarily transitory.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

bug

PRONUNCIATION: bŭg

NOUN: . . . 4a. A defect or difficulty, as in a system or design. b. Computer Science A defect in the code or routine of a program. . . .

ETYMOLOGY: Origin unknown.

From the Online Etymology Dictionary:

bug
"insect," 1622, probably from M.E. bugge "something frightening, scarecrow" a meaning obsolete except in bugbear (1580) and bugaboo (q.v.); probably connected with Scot. bogill "goblin, bugbear," or obsolete Welsh bwg "ghost, goblin" (cf. Welsh bwgwl "threat," earlier "fear"). Cf. also bogey(1) and Ger. bögge, böggel-mann "goblin." Perhaps influenced in meaning by O.E. -budda used in compounds for "beetle." Meaning "defect in a machine" (1889) may have been coined c.1878 by Thomas Edison. Sense of "equip with a concealed microphone" is from 1919. The verb "to annoy, irritate" is first attested 1949, probably in allusion to insect pests. Meaning "person obsessed by an idea (e.g. firebug) is from 1841. The meaning "to bulge" is 1870s, perhaps from a humorous or dialect mispronunciation of bulge. Sense of "microbe, germ" is from 1919. Phrase bug off is 1950s, perhaps from bugger off, which is chiefly British, but was picked up in U.S. Air Force slang in the Korean War

This is the first I've heard of 'bug' being attributed to Edison. The story I've heard about computer bug attributes it to a moth found in ENIAC, but this page attributes it to the late R. Adm. Grace Hopper during her work on the MARK II computer.

The first computer bug, from Grace Hopper's notebook: