By DEBBIE BARR & CHRIS BARR
Some of our most common computer terms have lost their original meaning. In fact, we use these terms so often that we take many of them for granted. However, when we stop to consider where they might have originated, it can raise some interesting questions, such as:
Why are they called “computers” anyway?
Computers can do so many diverse tasks! We use them to write stories and craft emails, create amazing graphics, play games, upload and download documents, and search the internet. And sure, they can “compute” mathematically, too. But, why are Macs and PCs called “computers” when they can do infinitely more than manipulate numbers?
The reason may surprise you. In the 1900s, “computer” was an occupation, not a machine! A computer was “one who computes.”
Computers were hired to compute (or calculate) very complex math equations. Computers were typically women working under the guidance of a supervisor, usually a scientist, who had defined a problem that needed to be solved. During World War I, computers calculated anti-aircraft trajectories. During World War II, computers in England helped break German military codes. In the United States, they calculated ordinance and trajectory tables using electro-mechanical calculators. They also worked on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos, performing calculations for the nuclear bomb.
What does a computer have in common with a piano?
Answer: A keyboard! The piano was invented around 1700, and as it became more and more popular, the concept of a keyboard grew in popularity, too. After the telegraph was invented, an easier way to send messages was needed that didn’t require knowledge of Morse Code. So, when the printing telegraph machine was invented in 1846, it repurposed the piano keyboard and put letters on the keys. Now you could just press the letter you wanted to send. The first typewriters followed suit, but organized the letter keys into several rows, creating the modern keyboard layout we use today on computers.
How did the computer mouse get its name?
It’s easy to see that the computer pointing device known as a “mouse” resembles the actual rodent – especially if it has a cord that looks like a tail. However, there may be another lesser-known reason why the term “mouse” caught on. According to a hardware designer named Roger Bates, what we now call the on-screen “cursor” used to be called the CAT. While no one seems to remember what CAT stood for, Bates says it made sense at the time to think that the CAT would chase the mouse moving on the desktop.
Why is a computer problem called a bug?
In engineering and in computer hardware or software, a defect that creates an undesired effect is known as a “bug.” “Bug” has been used to describe bothersome defects since at least 1878 when a seemingly frustrated Thomas Edison remarked that “…difficulties arise – this thing gives out and [it is] then that ‘bugs’ – as such little faults and difficulties are called – show themselves.”
In 1947, “bug” took on a humorous and more literal meaning. While troubleshooting a computer problem at Harvard University, Grace Hopper’s team found that a moth stuck inside the computer was causing a short circuit. According to Wikipedia, “Upon extraction, the insect was affixed to a log sheet for that day with the notation, ‘First actual case of bug being found.’ While neither (Hopper) nor her crew members mentioned the exact phrase, ‘debugging’ in their log entries, the case is held as a historical instance of ‘debugging’ a computer, and Hopper is credited with popularizing the term in computing. The remains of the moth can be found taped into the group’s log book at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.”
Why the strange looking “save” icon?
As you no doubt know, icons are easily recognizable symbols that represent computer functions. They are displayed on the screen to help users quickly navigate the system, serving as a shortcut to a program or file.
Most icons are stylized drawings that represent various computer functions or actions. For example, the drawing of a pair of scissors means cut; the drawing of a magnifying glass means search. One icon that has lost its original significance is the save icon. In the 1980s, computers did not have any internal storage, so data could only be saved on external disks that were inserted into the computer. The first disks were eight inches square and flexible, or “floppy.” Later, the disks were much smaller and made of rigid plastic, but the name stuck, and they were still called “floppy disks.” A drawing of this smaller, rigid plastic storage disk became the icon representing the save function. This is the same save icon we use today. Since most younger computer users have never seen an actual floppy disk, the save icon is to them something of a skeuomorph – an object that no longer applies to the task it represents.
