Slopfest #16 · Autumn 1947 · Vienna

First Actual Case of Bug

The first computer bug was a real insect. Ours are metaphorical, and far more numerous.

#16Negative eaten by the office cat.

Logbook page, close-up: a moth taped beside entries in three inks, the last reading 'SLOPFEST #16: the festival itself. Feature, not bug.'

Museum status: In storage: Basement B, next to the Christmas decorations.

Venue: Café Tirolerhof, near the Albertina
Attendance: 162
Guest of honour: Grace Hopper (read all 214 bug reports and called the log thorough)
Fun fact: 214 bugs logged, 214 marked 'won't fix'

What happened

Every fault at the festival went into an official bug log, which reached 214 entries before the doors opened. Grace Hopper, the guest of honor, read the whole log and pronounced it thorough. The committee's response to each entry was 'known issue'. A late entry, 'the festival itself', was marked as a feature.

“Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not tried it.”
— Donald Knuth

Elsewhere in 1947

Operators of the Harvard Mark II find a moth in a relay and log it as the 'first actual case of bug being found'.

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