Creeper (program)
| Type | Worm[1] |
|---|---|
| Isolation | 1971 |
| Author(s) | Bob Thomas |
| Operating system(s) affected | TENEX |
Creeper was an experimental computer program written by Bob Thomas at BBN in 1971.[2] Its original iteration was designed to move between DEC PDP-10 mainframe computers running the TENEX operating system using the ARPANET, with a later version by Ray Tomlinson designed to copy itself between computers rather than simply move.[3] This self-replicating version of Creeper is generally accepted to be the first computer worm.[1][4]
The program was not actively malicious software as it caused no damage to data, the only effect being a message outputted to the screen reading "I'm the creeper: catch me if you can".[4]
Reaper
| Original author(s) | Ray Tomlinson |
|---|---|
| Initial release | 1972 |
| Operating system | TENEX |
Reaper was a similar program created by Ray Tomlinson to move across the ARPANET and delete copies of the self-replicating Creeper.[3]
Cultural impacts
The conflict between Creeper and Reaper served as inspiration for the programming game Core War,[3] while fictionalized versions of Reaper have been used as antagonists in the anime Digimon Tamers and the visual novel Digital: A Love Story.
References
- 1 2 IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, Volumes 27-28. IEEE Computer Society, 2005. 74. Retrieved from Google Books on 13 May 2011. "[...]from one machine to another led to experimentation with the Creeper program, which became the world's first computer worm: a computation that used the network to recreate itself on another node, and spread from node to node."
- ↑ Thomas Chen, Jean-Marc Robert (2004). "The Evolution of Viruses and Worms" (PDF). Retrieved 2016-03-02.
- 1 2 3 John Metcalf (2014). "Core War: Creeper & Reaper". Retrieved 2014-05-01.
- 1 2 From the first email to the first YouTube video: a definitive internet history. Tom Meltzer and Sarah Phillips. The Guardian. 23 October 2009