Alan Sondheim on Sat, 22 Dec 2007 11:34:42 +0100 (CET)


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<nettime> Derivation of "Bug," telegraphy code, etc.





Derivation of "Bug," telegraphy code, etc.


"Bug" has been traced vis-a-vis computer folklore to early
programming/ hardware/software/etc. as far back as the 1950s I
believe. But recently I've come across a much earlier source. In The
Telegraph Instructor, 4th and revised edition, 1908, G.M. Dodge gives
a list of telegraph terms.

"Bug-in-the-wire -- A slang phrase frequently used when a wire is in
trouble."

This relates to "buggy," "he's bugged," "stop bugging me," and so
forth; what's interesting is the noun related to communications
technology. In relation to computers, this might be a case of
convergent evolution, but it's more likely to have moved through
telegraphy - telephony - radio - and so forth, into the habitus of
information theory and cybernetics.

Another early term relates to the origins of "ham" in "ham radio" -
although the exact source of this remains unknown:

"'Ham' or 'Plug' -- A telegraph operator, who is not proficient."

[A number of phrases we take for granted are older than they appear.
For example, "so long"; from A. Wallace, Popular Sayings Dissected,
1895: "So long! a leave-taking, a piece of colonial terseness is
equivalent to 'au revoir, saluons!' of which latter word it may be a
direct corruption, or again of 'salaam,' a bow, or 'salem,' 'peace be
with you.' The phrase may be paraphrased into 'Goodbye, so long as we
do not meet.'"]

On another related topic, early Morse code was somewhat different;
there were all sorts of variations - Navy Codes, European Codes, Morse
American codes, etc. The same book gives for example, "The Morse code
of signals as applied to the telegraph is used exclusively in the
United States." The code as given has three dash-lengths; for example,

t is -
but
l is --
and
0 is ----
In addition,
c is .. .
that is, some letters have small breaks within them; while
i is ..
o is . .
and
y is .. ..
and Further, there are some longer strings; ending parentheses
) is .....  .. ..
and
capitalized letters are indicated by .. . .-..
- so it goes. (Oddly this has been difficult to type, since I wanted to
eliminate meta/diacritical marks which might have been taken as part of
the code itself!)

The actual telegraph (semantic) code on top of the Morse results in
messages such as

Wr r ty gg r 9
or
Es r ty cn
and addresses/headers can read as obscurely as
Hr tru pink No 38 VO HW "HX" ck 12 collect N P R

The code, like international signals codes, is heuristic, ideographic,
and was simply memorized by the telegraph operator. It was just as
complicated for railroad telegraphy, where the difference between 19
and 31 - both meaning "train order" - was complex.

Note that this is triple-coding - Morse to telegraphic code to
ordinary language, and that, while natural language is fond of
redundancy (re: Shannon/Weaver), telegraphy is dominated by economic
considerations. Thus word counts, and what constitutes a word, are
critical. For example:

Van Dorne - 1 word
Queen Anne County - 3 words
44.12 - 5 words
No. 185 22nd St - 8 words
North Carolina - 1 word
10 000 000 - 8 words
and so forth.

The telegraph operator also had to understand railroad Engine Steam
Whistle Signals; here are a few (o - short sound and --- long sound):

o Stop. Apply breaks.
--- --- Release Breaks.
--- o o o Flagman go back and protect rear of train.
--- --- --- --- Flagman return from west or south.
--- --- --- --- --- Flagman return from east or north.
--- --- --- When running, train parted; to be repeated until answered.
o o Answer to any signal not otherwise provided for.
--- --- o o Approaching public crossings at grade.
o o o o Call for signals.

Air whistles are different, as are torpedo signals, light signals,
semaphore, etc.

Service Message Code:

N S N - No such number.
G B A - Give better address.
G S A - Give some address.
DFS - Disregard former service.
92 - Deliver.
Deld (or) 92d - Delivered.

There is also Phillips Press Code - an example:

"A dsx rain es wind storm psd tru t nt end o ta county tsm dsyg a gt deal
o prpy, roofs wr bln off a no o sma blgs es nux trees wr uprtd. A barn
blng to James Sampson ws stru by lghtg kig 3 horses es burng svl tons o
hay stored trin." This is standardized, but formed, it seems, primarily by
the elimination of redundancy. The header for the same example, however,
is another thing:

"o
Hr tru No 39 VO HW "HX" ck 63 collect N P R"
and so forth.


-





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