Women’s History in Tech: Grace Hopper, the OG Debugger
Software bugs refer to glitches in a computer program resulting in unexpected behavior. And Postman is a popular tool used for everyday debugging when working with APIs. But what’s the history behind the word “bugs” in modern technology?
Grace Hopper is commonly credited with coining the term “debugging” back in 1947. Hopper was a pioneer in the field of computer programming and also the Navy’s first female admiral. The story goes that she anecdotally discovered an actual moth trapped in the relay contacts inside her Mark II computer causing it to malfunction. Removing the bug fixed the glitch, and hence it became known as “debugging.”
In observance of Women’s History Month, check out Grace Hopper and other notable women featured in this Women in Technology public workspace by API Evangelist.
- Fork the Women in Tech parent collection to your own workspace to make the API call.
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