• DocumentCode
    854518
  • Title

    The Airy tape: an early chapter in the history of debugging

  • Author

    Campbell-Kelly, Martin

  • Author_Institution
    Dept. of Comput. Sci., Warwick Univ., UK
  • Volume
    14
  • Issue
    4
  • fYear
    1992
  • fDate
    6/14/1905 12:00:00 AM
  • Firstpage
    16
  • Lastpage
    26
  • Abstract
    The discovery of a paper-tape relic consisting of an undebugged program written for the EDSAC computer in 1949 is described. It is believed that this program is the first real, nontrivial application ever written for a stored-program computer. An examination of the program sheds new light on the extent to which the debugging problem was unanticipated by early computer programmers, and the motivation for the development at Cambridge of systematic programming practices and debugging aids. The impact of these early developments on programming elsewhere is discussed.<>
  • Keywords
    digital computers; history; program debugging; programming; Airy tape; Cambridge; EDSAC computer; debugging; programming practices; Adders; Application software; Computer errors; Debugging; History; Laboratories; Programming profession; Radio access networks; Springs; Writing;
  • fLanguage
    English
  • Journal_Title
    Annals of the History of Computing, IEEE
  • Publisher
    ieee
  • ISSN
    1058-6180
  • Type

    jour

  • DOI
    10.1109/85.194051
  • Filename
    194051
    • Link To Document
    https://search.isc.ac/dl/search/defaultta.aspx?DTC=49&DC=854518