Happy Ada Lovelace Day: Open Hardware Summit superstars!

There is also a short item on Ada Lovelace at Slashdot, and an absolutely awesome linked article by Amy Jollymore at O'Reilly Programming, highlighting the many ups and downs and challenges of Ada's remarkable  life.

There seems to be quite a bit of confusion as to what exactly Ada's claim to fame is

with regard to computing.  I have seen claims that she was the first computer programmer,

but Amy Jollymore's article says "Ada was the first woman programmer".

Is that intended to mean that there were prior men programmers?

I have seen claims that Ada "published the first computer program",

but have also seen claims that she may have published first, but the program(s)

she published were actually written by Charles Babbage, who invented the

Analytical Engine that the programs were intended for.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Lovelace#Controversy_over_extent_of_contributions

Amy's article says:

Though the sketches for the Analytical Engine were Babbage’s, the vision of its computing potential was all Ada.

Even if you assume that Babbage had essentially no vision for the non-numeric computing potential

of his invention, and that the vision of symbolic computing such as computer-generated music compositions

was all Ada's, there is a difference between the claim of being a visionary and being a programmer.

I haven't seen any claims that Ada actually did any non-numeric programming.

Of course she clearly had a remarkable life, and was clearly involved with the early history

of computing, but the story seems to get murky after that.

The whole concept of attribution in respect of mathematical and scientific endeavours has always seemed wierd to me.

Intellectual advances aren't actually the product of individuals except for a very thin veneer on top of an enormously broad and deep foundation created by millions and billions of people who went before, all of them influenced to an extreme degree by the education they received as a legacy, by the history of what went before, and by the ideas floating around them in their own age.  Individual contributions are tiny compared to the vast debt that is owed.  (This is also why patents are conceptually illegitimate.)

"Floating" is a good metaphor, because all intellectual pursuits rest on the surface of an immense international ocean of ideas, and very few people indeed have managed to "part the seas" of that ocean.  It's deep beyond measure, and most of that depth is out of sight and out of mind, forgotten and considered normal and obvious.  But it wasn't obvious, at one time.  And people always forget the education they received (both formally and informally through interacting with society), without which they would still be savages trying to survive in shivering caves.  Without it, they could not have done even the tiny thing that they are contributing.

Ada Lovelace played a part, like so many others have before.  Regardless of what people attribute to her today, probably the more remarkable achievement was simply being a mathematician in circumstances where society didn't encourage it.  Although the disputes about her history will undoubtedly continue for another thousand years, it's clear that she was a very unusual and gifted person for her time and her position.

Celebrity is mainly of interest to journalists though, as much back then as now.

Morgaine Dinova wrote:

 

Intellectual advances aren't actually the product of individuals except for a very thin veneer on top of an enormously broad and deep foundation created by millions and billions of people who went before, all of them influenced to an extreme degree by the education they received as a legacy, by the history of what went before, and by the ideas floating around them in their own age.  Individual contributions are tiny compared to the vast debt that is owed.  (This is also why patents are conceptually illegitimate. [Amen!])

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." -- Sir Isaac Newton

"In computer science, we stand on each other's feet."  -- Brian Reid

John Beetem wrote:

 

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." -- Sir Isaac Newton

 

"In computer science, we stand on each other's feet."  -- Brian Reid

Haha, indeed!

What a barbaric mess we've made of this craft.

Further on Brian Reid, he was the guy who Google fired for being an 'old guy' and for allegedly not being a 'cultural fit' in their company (the case was eventually settled out of court).  Maybe he was not considered a 'cultural fit' because (hypothesizing) he informed them that:

• Google's UIs for web applications are a wholesale regression even on graphic UIs of 20 years ago, and nothing short of a disgrace.  Or that ...
• Snooping on people's mail without their express opt-in agreement is a violation of long-standard netiquette, and making money off it does not make it "cool".  Or that ...
• Disempowering users of Android (a Linux system) by not allowing them to monitor and control apps after they've been installed is not responsible design.  Or that ...
• Totally ignoring the not-unreasonable claim of Francis McCabe when Google chose the conflicting name "Go" for their new language was not "cool", and nor was winning the day through complete silence instead of by handling the matter professionally.

I don't know why Brian wasn't considered a 'cultural fit', but I do see a whole pile of reasons (far more than the ones I mentioned above) why someone with a sense of responsibility would give contrary advice to Google and not be considered a 'cultural fit' in the world they are building.

Perhaps he suggested that they should stop standing on other people's feet.

It seems that even in quote you are re-inforcing Morgaine's view on this sort of thing:

from Wiki:

"its most familiar expression is found in the letters of Isaac Newton:

If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.

However, the metaphor was first recorded in the twelfth century and attributed to Bernard of Chartres"

Tee hee - even Newton ripped it off !

MK

LOL.  Nice one.

Hi Drew,

While she obtained accolades for doing a "mans" job, she made a number of contributions to the idea of controlled automation.

As for anyone "stealing" ideas or quotes, lets just say there is an artistic liscense in reusing good phases.

Our genetic evolution has strong reuse instincts and a good idea is a good idea, no matter who created it first.

Unfortunately, the ignorant people are more likely to praise the person who "says" it is their quote than finding out who "really" created the quote.

Some things just never change.

Food for thought.

DAB