The programmer wore satin

When you think about hardcore, serious computer programming nerds, just remember …

The first computer programmer in the world wore corsets and dresses.

For that matter, she didn’t have a debugger.

… or a chance to test-run her code.

… because the machine she was writing for didn’t exist yet.

So, when somebody wants to look down on you as a programmer because you don’t look like a real computer programmer or talk like a real computer programmer, just remind them that Ada Lovelace didn’t do either of those things either, and she’s way more hardcore than they are.

I mean, do they have a computer language named after them? She does – Ada was written for the Department of Defense in the 1970s and is still actively updated and developed.

I mean, have they been reinvented as half of a crime-fighting duo in a webcomic?  She has – The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage, aka “2dgoggles“.  Notice who gets top billing here?  (You cannot imagine how much I want to put an image of her character in this post, but I do try not to appropriate other people’s stuff.  Seriously, my desktop background is the 2dgoggles one of Ada inside the machine.)

I mean, do they have a Day named after them?  She does – and today is the third annual Ada Lovelace Day.  To learn more about it, check out the Finding Ada site: http://findingada.com/

So, my nerdy and creative and generally awesome friends … which women in nerdery inspire you?

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