Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Ada Lovelace Day

Apparently today is Ada Lovelace Day. Ada Lovelace (aka Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace) is widely recognised as the first computer programmer. The daughter of Lord Byron, she was encouraged away from her father's dissolute lifestyle by her mother, who encouraged her interest in mathematics. Ada excelled at mathematics and became a friend for Charles Babbage.

When Babbage created his Difference Engine, the first programmable computer, Ada wrote out the method to configure it to calculate Bernoulli numbers. Hence her appellation as the first computer programmer.

Ada Lovelace day was created by Suw Charman-Anderson as a way to promote women in IT.

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