Ada Lovelace

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Augusta Ada Byron (aka "Ada Lovelace"

Ada Lovelace, Wikipedia

Ada Lovelace is considered to be the first computer programmer, working on the first computer created by Charles Babbage in the mid 1800s. She was raised in a very aristocratic family, but unlike most families, Ada was raised being taught mathematics and science. Her mother had her taught these fields because she felt that it would help to teach her self-control.

 

At the age of 17 Ada met Charles Babbage, he was well known as the father of the computer. His creation of the difference engine was one of the first mechanical computers in existence, called the difference engine. Through Babbage, Ada began to study advanced mathematics and science from Agustus de Morgan, and University of London professor at the time. Ada and Babbage became close friends and babbage continued to mentor her late into his life.

Below is a video demonstrating how Babbage's difference engine operates:

 

Most notably, Ada translated an Italian document researching one of Babbage's machines, but not only translated it, she also added her own notes. She wrote that codes could be developed to represent characters, symbols and letters. She also theorized how a machine could be instructed to repeat instructions more than once which has developed into modern day "loops". In her other notes she also wrote an algorithm for how Babbage's analytical engine could compute bernoulli's numbers, which is regarded by many to be the first algorithm ever written. For this many historians consider her to be the first computer programmer.

Many other historians disagree, Wikipedia lists a couple of interesting examples,

"Not only is there no evidence that Ada ever prepared a program for the Analytical Engine, but her correspondence with Babbage shows that she did not have the knowledge to do so"(Bromley).

They don't deny the fact that she influenced the computing community, nor that notes were written for programming.

"made a considerable contribution to publicizing the Analytical Engine, but there is no evidence that she advanced the design or theory of it in any way"(Collier).

Wikipedia mentions that Ada did not actually write the first algorithm either. That notion goes to Babbage, whom wrote many of his own notes for algorithms which far predate Ada's. That said, one author noted

"there's nothing as sophisticated—or as clean—as Ada's computation of the Bernoulli numbers. Babbage certainly helped and commented on Ada's work, but she was definitely the driver of it"(Wolfram).

Sources

Biography.com, Ada Lovelace

From Wikipedia

Bromley, Allan G. (1990). "Difference and Analytical Engines" (pdf). In Aspray, William. Computing Before Computers. Ames: Iowa State University Press. pp. 59–98. ISBN 0-8138-0047-1. p. 89.

Collier, Bruce (1970). The Little Engines That Could've: The Calculating Machines of Charles Babbage (PhD). Harvard University. Retrieved 18 December 2015. Chapter 3.

Wolfram, Stephen (2016). Idea Makers: Personal Perspectives on the Lives & Ideas of Some Notable People. Wolfram Media. pp. 45–98. ISBN 1579550037.

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