
Where did "debugging" come from?
The expression "There's a bug in the machine." was coined by Grace Hopper in the mid 40's when she traced a failure in the Harvard Mark II to a moth trapped in a relay. The moth was carefully removed and taped to a daily log book, or so the legend goes.
For a more definitive statement, see the article The First Computer Bug. Also at that site is an interesting article about the The Worst Computer Bug.
 
Gary Bergman Associates, Inc.