The First Computer Bug Was a Real Insect
The Incident That Coined a Term
The Harvard Mark II computer had a bug caught inside one of its relays which led to its breakdown. Hence, the practice of solving problems with computers is what is now referred to as debugging due to this case. Therefore, the moth scaffolded into the logbook, thereby immortalizing this funny moment in the history of technology.
The Legacy of Debugging
The practice of looking for and removing errors One thing to note is that debugging has always landed at the foundation of computer science. In order for their software applications to work properly, developers have to eliminate the presence of bugs from their codes. This story about the initial bug helps us understand how human and light-hearted technology can be at times.
The Origin of the QWERTY Keyboard
Designed to Slow Typists Down
The QWERTY keyboard layout, now common, was made to make typing slower. The inventor of the typewriter, Christopher Latham Sholes, did this in the 1870s in order to stop mechanical typebars from jamming. To avoid jamming, typists were made to type slowly, with commonly used letters separated from each other.Persistence of QWERTY
Although Dvorak and other thoroughly efficient keyboard layouts have been invented, the QWERTY became the most commonly used one because people are used to it and have been trained on it extensively while my researching this, I found about some really weird stories happening in this regard too.The Internet Weighs As Much As a Strawberry
Calculating the Weight of Data
Some time ago, physicist Russell Seitz estimated that the Internet would weigh no more than an average-strawberry. The electrons which serve as digital data storage and transmission media are taken into account in this fantastic computation. Data lacks weight in the usual sense while the electricity and the electrons used in passing it over definitely make up such an unexpected comparison.
Understanding Digital Weight
Though it’s a playful concept, the idea of the internet’s weight underscores the massive scale and complexity of our digital infrastructure. It’s a fun way to appreciate the unseen forces that enable our online activities.
