Something else to file in the “if only I had money to burn” category. I’d dearly love to see Ada Lovelace’s programs run on the machine they were written for.
Something else to file in the “if only I had money to burn” category. I’d dearly love to see Ada Lovelace’s programs run on the machine they were written for.
I always wondered if Ada had brothers, “Lovelace” is a wonderful name for a girl, pretty bad for a boy. đ
Seriously though, we had a modern Ada Lovelace, Admiral Hopper of COBOL fame, who’s programs ran on systems that are just as hulking pieces of old machinery, though only somewhat less noisy and smelly, as one would imagine the steampunk version would be. I would like to see the steampunk computer though. đ
It’s too bad there’s too few females in tech, I know from talking to female electronics engineering technicians in college that a big part of it is male sexual harassment in the workplace, and stereotyping that goes on throughout school and at home, that’s the main barrier, and it’s gotta stop.
Her full name was Augusta Ada King, nÊe Byron (daughter of the poet of the same family name). She was the Countess of Lovelace, it wasn’t her actual name. She had no brothers, but she did have at least one son… when he was addressed, it was by his full title, the Earl of Lovelace.
I thought Admiral Grace Hopper was also involved in the development of the Ada language, but apparently I was mistaken.
The sexual harassment may simply be a cultural thing. If so, it will fade as the culture matures. I always thought that women just overall had less interest in “boys’ toys” like computers, but I could well be wrong.
Is Lovelace, of Lovelace, same difference! Poor chap… At least he isn’t like his fellow peers, the Earls of Grey, who forever are being likened to teabags. đ
It’d be interesting to find out if there’d been studies to see just how much nature/nurture goes into the “boy toy” phenomenon you mentioned, and how strong such a phenomenon is in general. I suspect a great deal of “nurture” is at play. Anyhow, all I can do is relate what some women in electronics engineering tech said to me, but then again, those would be the exceptions to a “boy toy” phenomenon, if one exists.
Maybe some smart scientists will figure out a way to test for that, but I’m not holding my breath waiting for it — blue isn’t my best color. đ The only obvious way to do it would be to raise people in a culture where the “nurture” is different, which would be pretty difficult as I don’t think there are any such cultures at present.