Origin of Computers | womenincompsci

Ada and Charles Babbage

Notes on the Analytical Engine

The Origin of Computer Programming

Most will agree that the origins of computer science can be traced back to one woman in 1842. Ada Lovelace was an extraordinary woman who was certainly beyond her years. Though publishing her work that was commonly considered the world's first computer program in 1843, she did not recieve much recognition until 100 years later. Still today, Ada Lovelace often does not receive equal recognition given to her (male) collaborator, Charles Babbage.

Ada Lovelace

Controversy over Ada's Contribution

Though Ada Lovelace is often referred to as the first computer programmer, there is disagreement over the extent of her contributions, and whether she can accurately be called a programmer.

Allan G. Bromley, in the 1990 essay Difference and Analytical Engines, wrote,

"All but one of the programs cited in her notes had been prepared by Babbage from three to seven years earlier. The exception was prepared by Babbage for her, although she did detect a 'bug' in it. 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."

Historian Bruce Collier went further in his 1990 book The Little Engine That Could've, calling Ada not only irrelevant, but delusional:

It would be only a slight exaggeration to say that Babbage wrote the 'Notes' to Menabrea's paper, but for reasons of his own encouraged the illusion in the minds of Ada and the public that they were authored by her. It is no exaggeration to say that she was a manic depressive with the most amazing delusions about her own talents, and a rather shallow understanding of both Charles Babbage and the Analytical Engine.