The Strange Roots

Patch 🤕

Patch, a small piece of code inserted into a program to correct a fault, stems from the fact that the computer programmers of the 1940s would fix issues by sticking physical patches of tape over the holes in the punch cards that were used to program the early computers.

The Association of Computing Machinery included the term in its 1954 glossary as: Patch, a section of coding inserted into a routine (usually by explicitly transferring control from the routine to the patch and back again) to correct a mistake or alter the routine.

Sources: Oxford English Dictionary