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Discussion on: Who are women that should get recognition for their contributions to software?

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Uli Troyo

I can think of three off the top of my head:

  • Ada Lovelace bears mentioning, since she was the first person who thought "hey, you know how we use symbols to represent stuff? Well, what if we were to represent everything in symbols, and then use devices such as punch cards used in looms to carry out instructions depending on whether a symbol is present or not?" That's why many consider her the first programmer.
  • Kathleen Booth wrote the first assembly language back in 1947.
  • Grace Hopper invented the first text compiler in 1955.

By the way, if you care about women in computing, I have three books I'd recommend:

  1. Broad Band is about all sorts of awesome women in programming, from obscure and long-lived internet forums to hypertext awesomeness. Don't know how to describe it; it's one of my favorites.
  2. Life in Code is a memoir about accidentally becoming a woman programmer in the 1970s. I so wish there were more books like this.
  3. Code Girls is about the women serving as codebreakers in World War II. It's epic.