Facts no one knows about programmers

Here are a few fun facts about coders or programmers that you may not know about:

1. Many early computer programmers were women: During the 1950s and 1960s, when computers were first being developed, many of the programmers were women. This is because computers were seen as more of a "girl's job," and many women were hired to work as "computers" (people who did calculations by hand) before computers were even invented.

2. The first computer programmer was a woman: Ada Lovelace, an English mathematician and writer, is considered to be the world's first computer programmer for her work on Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine in the 19th century. She wrote the first algorithm intended to be processed by the machine.

3. Some programmers use "rubber duck debugging": This is a technique where a programmer explains their code, line by line, to a rubber duck or any other inanimate object. The act of explaining the code helps the programmer to find the errors or bugs in their code.

4. The term "debugging" comes from an actual bug: In the early days of computing, bugs were not just a metaphorical term for errors in the code, but actual bugs that would crawl into the computer and cause problems. The term "debugging" comes from the practice of physically removing bugs from the computer.

5. The first computer virus was created by a 15-year-old: In 1986, a 15-year-old boy named Rich Skrenta created the first computer virus, called Elk Cloner. He wrote it as a joke and distributed it on floppy disks to his friends.

6. The first computer game was written by a programmer: The first computer game was written in 1958 by William Higinbotham, a physicist and programmer, called Tennis for Two. It was a simple game that used an oscilloscope as a display and was played on an analog computer.

7. The term "hacker" was originally a compliment: In the early days of computing, a "hacker" was someone who was skilled and clever with computers. The term has since taken on a negative connotation, but it originally was a compliment.

Comments

[Marissa B]

You should put citations on these, otherwise you're just copy/pasting without any sources.

The debugging one isn't really accurate - "bug" meaning a mechanical issue or problem is a very old usage. Likewise "debug" came from that originally, not the moth that Grace Hopper found in a series of relays.

[archi-jain]

Okay sure I'll add the citation for this...