Admiral Grace Murray Hopper and Lady Augusta Ada Byron Lovelace

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Recommended: The historical development of computers

Ada & Grace: Practical Visionaries

Imagine a computer programmer who still programs in bits and bytes and has never heard of the terms "bug" or "de-bugging." Then, stretch your mind much further, and try to imagine a world without computers. Most of us, no matter what age, don't have such powerful imaginations. But without the contributions of women like Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, who developed the first compiler, and Lady Augusta Ada Byron Lovelace, who made the idea of an Analytical Engine accessible to a world without computers, our most advanced computing device for general use would very likely still be a simple calculator.

Lovelace and Hopper are by no means the only women who have made invaluable contributions to the field of computer science. Without Betty Holberton, who "devised the first sort-merge generator, for UNIVAC I" (AWC, "Frances..."), Grace Hopper would never have been able to design the first compiler. A more contemporary scientist, Dr. Anita Borg, has profoundly influenced the field by "designing and building a fault tolerant UNIX-based operating system" ("Short Biography of Anita Borg"), as well as developing a performance analysis method for high-speed memory systems. However, I've chosen to focus on Lovelace and Hopper because they are probably the most frequently mentioned women in computer science, and they represent two critical historical moments in the field: Lovelace helps to bring the first computer into being, while Hopper forges the start of the modern computer age.

A researcher looking into women and computer science will find Ada's and Grace's names scattered all over the place. Lovelace has a programming language named after her (Ada), the Association for Women in Computing offer the ...

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...//www.ex.ac.uk/BABBAGE/ada.html (11 March 2000).

AWSEM - Associate of Women in Science, Engineering and Mathematics. "Facts in Brief." AWSEM Gender Equity. http://www.awsem.org (2 Feb. 2000).

Danis, Sharron Ann. "Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper." 2 Feb. 1997. http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~history/Hopper.Danis.html (17 March 2000).

GirlTECH. "Introduction." Getting Girls Interested in Computers. 1998. http://math.rice.edu/~lanius/club/girls.html (7 Feb. 2000).

"Grace Murray Hopper: 1906-1992." A Science Odyssey: People and Discoveries (PBS). 1998. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/btmurr.html (17 March 2000).

"Short Biography of Anita Borg." Institute for Women and Technology. http://www.iwt.org/trubio.html (20 March 2000).

Toole, Betty Alexander. Ada, The Enchantress of Numbers: Prophet of the Computer Age. Mill Valley CA: Strawberry Press, 1998.

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