On Tuesday 21 November 2006 13:05, George Arseneault wrote:
--- Tim <ignored_mailbox(a)yahoo.com.au> wrote:
> On Mon, 2006-11-20 at 10:49 -0800, George Arseneault
>
> wrote:
> > Actually 'real' debugging was when they ran
>
> distilled
>
> > water over the circuits to remove the dead bugs.
>
> (Back
>
> > when computers took up their own building)
>
> Hmm, just water?
>
> It's years since I've actually seen a real
> mainframe, though this was a
> transistorised one. Great big metal cabinets, where
> you opened up the
> doors to a rat's nest of wire-wrap, and it used
> water-cooling through
> the doors as well as the rest of the cabinet.
Theoretically, pure water does *not* conduct
electricity. It's the other particles (ions,
whatever) that allow it to conduct. So, it *should*
be safe to run the water over running circuits.
Of course, any contaminants (oil, grease, dust,
whatever) *could* cause a short-circuit.
But, I read somewhere that they did precisely that,
long ago. And, that the reason we call the
abnormal/strange occurrences in programs, bugs, is
that they were often caused by bugs, rodents, etc.
shorting out or chewing through the computer's circuits
The original 'bug' was found by Grace Hopper (look her up on google, its
very educational) and was purportedly a moth crushed between a relays
contacts somewhere in the 60 years ago era.
--
Cheers, Gene
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
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Copyright 2006 by Maurice Eugene Heskett, all rights reserved.