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And that, kids, is why we call it a “Patch”

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Re: And that, kids, is why we call it a “Patch”

#51

Post by derefr »

j2kun wrote: post #45
kayamon wrote: post #40

no it isn't. The word 'patch' was used to mean 'a small fix' hundreds of years before computers were even invented. e.g. patching a hole in a sweater.

Is there an old use of the word patch that doesn't directly relate to physical holes (eg., would someone call fixing a tear a "patch"?). If no, then the line of reasoning still makes sense, because without punch cards there would be no physical holes to patch.

I would wonder what term has been used historically for "a small fix to a large conceptual design after flaws have been pointed out." In the modern day, that's almost always "a patch": mathematical theorems get patches, architectural plans get patches, etc. When did this usage start, and what came before it?

Re: And that, kids, is why we call it a “Patch”

#52

Post by imh »

j2kun wrote: post #45
kayamon wrote: post #40

no it isn't. The word 'patch' was used to mean 'a small fix' hundreds of years before computers were even invented. e.g. patching a hole in a sweater.

Is there an old use of the word patch that doesn't directly relate to physical holes (eg., would someone call fixing a tear a "patch"?). If no, then the line of reasoning still makes sense, because without punch cards there would be no physical holes to patch.

Yeah. When referring to non-physical things, 'patch up' is basically interchangeable with 'mend.' Patching up a relationship is a common usage that comes to mind.

Re: And that, kids, is why we call it a “Patch”

#54

Post by haylem »

valarauca1 wrote: post #37
z3t4 wrote: post #31

bugs also used to be real bugs

For those interested Grace Hopper helped popularize this term In 1946, when Hopper was released from active duty, she joined the Harvard Faculty at the Computation Laboratory where she continued her work on the Mark II and Mark III. Operators traced an error in the Mark II to a moth trapped in a relay, coining the term bug. This bug was carefully removed and taped to the log book. Stemming from the first bug, today w…

Grace Hopper (grasshopper) popularizing bugs... Can't make this stuff up.

Re: And that, kids, is why we call it a “Patch”

#55

Post by iaw »

taneq wrote: post #18
Isamu wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sandglasses were around for a long time.

Well, we assume it was a long time but maybe sandglasses were really inaccurate.

I'm not sure if it would matter if they were really inaccurate if the ship used the same sandglass and rope. I've read about the shipping log -> world map work [1] where it details that the speeds/distances for a given group of boats had different errors which the gentlemen developed a technique to resolve.

[1] https://priceonomics.com/a-map-of-the-world-made-from-shippi...

Re: And that, kids, is why we call it a “Patch”

#56

Post by arnarbi »

xyclos wrote: post #19
arnarbi wrote: post #2

My favorite is "log", named after logbooks. Logbooks have maritime origins, where the ships speed is recorded. Even today, speedometer on ships are in many languages called "a log" since the original method consists of throwing an actual log overboard with a string attached to it. The string would have knots with regular intervals. To determine the speed, you count how many knots pass through your hand in a certain t…

And I suppose that's also the origin of measuring speed in "knots" (?)

Yep. For scale: if you count for one minute, a knot every 30m or so on the string will give you your speed in nautical miles per hour (=knots)

Re: And that, kids, is why we call it a “Patch”

#57

Post by acqq »

raldi wrote: post #49
scrollaway wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Eventually an HR person came around and told me to remove the card because the top management was coming to visit soon. Among other things this made it easier to understand the role of HR in a large company. What on earth?

Around that time, the same HR department decreed that nothing in anyone's cubicle could protrude higher than the inter-cubicle divider wall, about nine inches. One employee had to take down a little American flag (this was two years after 9/11) and another, a trophy the company had given him.

Now I know why Catbert the HR is colored devil red.

Re: And that, kids, is why we call it a “Patch”

#58

Post by Fuzzwah »

lazyant wrote: post #46
logicallee wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> To determine the speed, you count how many knots pass through your hand in a certain time. But how did they count "a certain time"? (Before stopwatches).

The origins of precise clocks is because ships needed to calculate how far they had travelled in terms of longitude (eastwast/westward. How far you've travel north/south is easy to calculate by how high the sun goes). The British crown established an award for whoever could come up with a precise clock of this reason, it's a fascinating story, I recommend the book "Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solve…

Also if you're interested in inventors from the late 17th Century, I highly recommend: "The Man Who Knew Too Much: The inventive life of Robert Hooke"

Re: And that, kids, is why we call it a “Patch”

#59

Post by alblue »

grymoire1 wrote: post #17

This is why the DEL key is all ones. It was used to overpunch the wrong letter on a paper tape and replace it with a character that meant ignore (delete) it. As done on an ASR-33 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teletype_Model_33

Yup, I talked about this (and the origins of ASCII and why Ctrl+M is new line etc) in a talk I gave at the end of last year entitled "A brief history of Unicode". The video recording has just been published on InfoQ:

https://www.infoq.com/presentations/unicode-history

Re: And that, kids, is why we call it a “Patch”

#60

Post by mdrzn »

alblue wrote: post #59
grymoire1 wrote: post #17

This is why the DEL key is all ones. It was used to overpunch the wrong letter on a paper tape and replace it with a character that meant ignore (delete) it. As done on an ASR-33 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teletype_Model_33

Yup, I talked about this (and the origins of ASCII and why Ctrl+M is new line etc) in a talk I gave at the end of last year entitled "A brief history of Unicode". The video recording has just been published on InfoQ: https://www.infoq.com/presentations/unicode-history

Really interesting! Thanks for sharing.
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