Grace Hopper: The Queen of Code

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The Queen Of Code | FiveThirtyEight

You probably don’t know the name Grace Hopper, but you should. As a rear admiral in the U.S. Navy, Hopper worked on the first computer, the Harvard Mark 1. And she headed the team that created the …

 

Rear Admiral “Amazing” Grace Hopper was one of the first (and finest) computer programmers in history. She was also a badass mofo, blazing against institutional blockheadedness her entire (extremely long) career. She created the first compiler and spearheaded the creation of COBOL, one of the first compiled computer languages – opening up the field of programming to people who didn’t have high-level math degrees.

Here’s a short video on her (directed by Gillian Jacobs of Community fame). As a heads up: if you’re using AdBlock, you may need to disable it to watch the video.

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7 Responses to “Grace Hopper”

1. Martin Hooper on February 2nd, 2015 - 11:14pm

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-vcErOPofQ

2. Andrew Lucas on February 3rd, 2015 - 1:37pm

   While we’re on the topic of “first”, “computer programmer” and “female” I’m very surprised that Ada Lovelace doesn’t even get an honourable mention.

3. Jason Porath on February 3rd, 2015 - 2:01pm

   I said “one of the first” for a reason. Some people are being saved for the book, although I can’t say who. :)

4. La Belle Gigi on February 7th, 2015 - 12:34am

   Wasn’t she also the first one on record to say “Better to ask for forgiveness than for permission”?

5. Charlie on February 27th, 2015 - 10:09pm

   She’s also responsible for the term “bug” as it applies to computers and software.

6. Antonio D'souza on March 3rd, 2015 - 5:59am

   I hope Kathleen Booth makes the cut too!