# Who is Jerry Ogdin?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-jerry-ogdin/836537>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 4, 2019, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-jerry-ogdin/836537 "2019-07-04T21:22:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2019, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-jerry-ogdin/836537/1 "2019-07-04T21:22:51Z")

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He is widely quoted as saying, “A debugged program is one for which you have not yet found the conditions that make it fail.” But none of the sources say anything about him, and when I Google him all I find is this quote.

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**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2019, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-jerry-ogdin/836537/2 "2019-07-04T21:39:09Z")

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Are you sure about the Spelling? If i google Jerry Ogd **e** n, I get results for a guy who has a Ph.D. in civil engineering. That sounds like someone who might say something like that.

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**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2019, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-jerry-ogdin/836537/3 "2019-07-04T21:46:18Z")

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A google search finds a Jerry Ogden in reference to Microcomputer Technique Inc. in a 1975 issue of Byte magazine. Doesn’t really say anything about who he is though and doesn’t connect him to the quote.

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**Author:** ![goldmund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a4c791/32.png) [@goldmund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/goldmund)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2019, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-jerry-ogdin/836537/4 "2019-07-04T21:56:24Z")

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He was a computer consultant back in the 70s, who originally came up with the idea of using [audio cassettes for data storage](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_City_standard). He designed an 8008-based trainer board and then later became a columnist for [Popular Electronics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altair_8800).