Grace Hopper: The Queen of Code
I was only slightly familiar with the name Grace Hopper, and roughly knew a bit about her influence on the world of computers. But until I saw this short documentary, I didn’t understand the incredible impact she had on what I do for a living, every single day.
Among her achievements: she worked on the very first computer (the Harvard Mark 1), helped with calculations for the Manhattan Project, and rose her way to Rear Admiral in the US Navy.
Hopper invents a compiler in 1951, and it allows people who don’t have PhDs in Mathematics to start talking with these machines… to start programming these machines.
Oh yeah, and she invented the first compiler, making it possible for a regular shmoe like me to make a computer do really fun and interesting things (most of the time, anyways).
Hopper had a remarkable life, and it’s really amazing to see all that she accomplished. It’s a short-ish documentary, clocking in around 16 minutes… but really worth your time to watch.
Fun aside – Hopper also popularized the term “debugging,” when an actual bug (a moth) flew into the computer her team was working on.
Related:
Everything is Broken: On Software, Security, and All the Flaws Therein
Writing the Right Stuff: NASA’s Elite Coders
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