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The first computer virus, Creeper, appeared on ARPANET in 1971. It was followed by Reaper — the first known antivirus program.

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Why it matters

The idea in context

The first computer virus, Creeper (1971), harmlessly displayed 'I'm the creeper, catch me if you can' on ARPANET — and inspired the first antivirus, Reaper, to chase it.

Türkçe

Aynı kart, başka bir dilde.

İlk bilgisayar virüsü Creeper, 1971'de ARPANET'te ortaya çıktı. Onu, bilinen ilk antivirüs programı olan Reaper izledi.

İlk bilgisayar virüsü Creeper (1971), ARPANET'te zararsızca 'Ben creeper'ım, yakalayabilirsen yakala' yazdırdı — ve onu kovalayacak ilk antivirüs olan Reaper'a ilham verdi.

Source trail

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Background reading: ARPANETAttribution and context are revised when stronger evidence appears. Corrections are welcome through the editorial page.
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The Apollo Guidance Computer flew astronauts to the Moon with about 4 KB of working memory — your phone has roughly a million times more.

The AGC had about 4 KB of RAM, 72 KB of fixed 'rope core' memory, and ran at roughly 1 MHz — less computing power than a musical greeting card. Yet in 1969 it steered Apollo 11 across 380,000 km, ran the landing radar, and even recovered gracefully from overload alarms minutes before touchdown. The story is not about weak hardware; it is about what disciplined engineering, compact code and ruthless prioritising can do under impossible constraints.

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