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Some great women of programming

Nils Eilers, 18.05.2017

It often confuses me that programming seems to be dominated by men, even though the founders of programming and many of the greatest programmers were women. I read in an article that the way early home computers were marketed as gaming systems for boys contributed to this imbalance and made a significant impact over time.

Here are some of the amazing women who were pioneers in the field of computer programming:

Ada Lovelace

Lady Ada Lovelace (1815 – 1852)

Invented the concept of programming. Her father, Lord Byron, was famous for his poetry. Lovelace was known as a poet of mathematics.

“[The Analytical Engine] might act upon other things besides numbers, where objects found whose mutual fundamental relations could be expressed by those of the abstract science of operations, and which should be susceptible of adaptations to the action of the operating notation and mechanism of the engine. For instance, supposing that the fundamental relations of pitched sounds in the science of harmony and musical composition were susceptible of such expression and adaptations, the engine might compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music of any degree of complexity or extent.”
– Quoted from Augusta Ada Byron King, Countess of Lovelace, Note A to Luigi Menabrea's “Notions sur la machine analytique de Charles Babbage”, Geneva 1842.

Lovelace’s visionary insights went far beyond pure calculation, anticipating artificial intelligence and the creation of complex creative works by machines.

“Amazing” Grace Hopper (1906 – 1992)

Grace Hopper invented the concept of human-readable programming languages and subsequently created COBOL. She rose to the rank of Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy, and later, a missile destroyer and a Cray supercomputer were named after her. The term “debugging” is attributed to her discovery of a moth inside a computer. She often carried wires representing a nanosecond to help others understand the relationship between size and speed in computers.

“People are allergic to change. They love to say, ‘We’ve always done it this way.’ I try to fight that. That’s why I have a clock on my wall that runs counterclockwise.”
— “The Wit and Wisdom of Grace Hopper”, by Philip Schieber in OCLC Newsletter, No. 167 (March/April 1987)

Hopper was known for her pioneering work in software development, her groundbreaking advancements in computer science, and her relentless advocacy for innovation and change.

 Grace Hopper

 

Adele Goldstine (1920 – 1964)

Adele Goldstine wrote the entire technical documentation for ENIAC, the first electronic computer.

The original programmers of ENIAC were all women:

Goldstine’s meticulous work in documenting ENIAC was essential for ensuring the usability and understanding of one of the most significant technological advancements of the 20th century. The contributions of these pioneering women laid the groundwork for modern computer programming.

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Bett Jean Jennings und Fran Bilas

Jean E. Sammet (1928 – 2017)

Jean E. Sammet developed the FORMAC programming language, an extension of FORTRAN designed for symbolic mathematical computations. She was a pioneer in language development and standardization and authored the influential book “Programming Languages: History and Fundamentals” in 1969.

Marissa Mayer (1975 – )

Marissa Mayer was Google’s 20th employee and its first female engineer. She later became the CEO of Yahoo, leading the company through a period of significant transformation. Mayer is recognized for her leadership in technology and her efforts to encourage women in computing.

“My daughters are just as interested in programming, if not more so, than my boys. I hope we will continue to see amazing women in computer programming.”

— From the original post “Some Great Women of Programming” by Jim McKeeth on www.delphi.org, April 25, 2017. Translation by Nils Eilers.

These women, along with many others, have made remarkable contributions to the field of computer programming, inspiring new generations of developers and breaking barriers along the way.