Woman Is the World's First Computer Programmer

[Sveta Bond]

ladyada.jpg
This week, on 10th December, we celebrate the 197th birth anniversary of Ada Lovelace, often considered as the world's first computer programmer. Ada became famous not only as a daughter of romantic poet Lord Byron but also as an outstanding 19th century mathematician. Her works on analytical engine are recognized as the first algorithm intended to be processed by a machine.
Women always played a crucial role in the computer science evolution, but unfortunately, they are considered to be not so good at programming and engineering as men. Even though the fair sex makes up a growing portion of computer and Internet users, there is still a large gender gap in the field of Computer Science
Lets find out the reasons of this “social injustice”:
• Females attach their interest in computer science to more social and people-oriented arenas, such as medicine, education and the arts.
• Computers are believed to be more boy's toys, that`s why when girls got into computer science departments they come in with less hands-on experience.
• Women are also a minority in other math and science fields. According to top research universities, computer science exams are in advanced-placement at the high school level for only 15 % of girls.
• Women don't fit the tech boy stereotype provided by Silicon Valley. This idea of the male “computer geek” that society has portrayed has been going on for decades.
• And the main reason- women have too much in common with computers. Because no one but the Creator understands their internal logic:-)
But all is not lost! According to the study women's enrollment in the computer science raised from 7 percent in 1995 to 42 percent in 2000. And it is still increasing. Soon women will take a well-deserved position among the world's top computer programmers. After all, a number of notable female computer pioneers such as Ada Lovelace, Grace Hopper, and Anita Borg have proven that women make great computer scientists.
But will women make great contributions to the modern technologies industry? Or successful and famous female computer programmer is just a pipe dream?

[dalecosp]

Well, the topic's been discussed at large on the WWW quite a bit. Our friend and fellow programmer Elizabeth, as a matter of fact, is a founding member of PHPWomen. She's often busy with that sort of thing these days, and probably doesn't write as much code as she used to. And, truth be told, we kind of miss her around here.

Now, for the sake of discussion I'll be a little politically incorrect and point out that Mark Gungor says that men's brains are full of distinct, unconnected boxes and that some men are able to get into a box, let's say a "programmer box", and stay there for a big part of their day, most days, for years or a lifetime until they become "great" --- and women are wired differently and have all kinds of interconnections between their boxes, and many of them will probably not, even with a lifetime of effort, get as close to greatness as some of those men.

I tend to think he's right, for the most part; there's an extremely small percentage of men who will really do great things, and a much smaller percentage of women who do the same ... you've pointed out a few, and here's a longer list. Outside of that, generally speaking, most women are better than most men at doing "life"; whether or not they make better programmers *in general and en masse* is a matter that we will only discover if at some time in the future a large number of them decide they really WANT to do that and give less focus and energy to whatever other things they may have wanted to do.

[bradgrafelman]

@dalecosp: Just checking... but you do realize there is a 99.9% chance the OP is a spam bot, right?

And now for some slightly-on-topic and extremely-sexist banter: Why do women typically have smaller feet than men? So they can stand closer to the sink!

[traq]

@dalecosp: Just checking... but you do realize there is a 99.9% chance the OP is a spam bot, right?

That was my thought.

Either of you look at the picture?

[laserlight]

Heh, yeah, high chance of this being by a spam bot that copied somewhat relevant content from elsewhere... but there's always a small chance of a legit user since it is relevant to us, so maybe we should wait and see first.

[dalecosp]

Given that most spam I see on the VB's I admin is pr0n, Abercrombie clothing, or cheap toner (which, actually, is at least relevant there), I chose to give "Sveta" the benefit of the doubt ... if it's spam, where's the link juice? Or, do we have code in place to remove links from noob's posts?

In the event this is an actual person, I'll refrain from further opinions on "her" actual existence so "she" can respond without feeling TOO unwelcome.

So they can stand closer to the sink!

Are you married? I find that's a great place to catch the Mrs. --- where she can't get away!

[dalecosp]

I also might point to the presence of another thread as evidence that, if this person's a spam bot, they managed to write it with some sort of a sense of humor at the very least.

[Bonesnap]

Are you married?

Not anymore.

[bradgrafelman]

Not anymore.

Either that or she's taking a damned long time making me that sammich!

[NogDog]

And as far as Ada Lovelace being the first programmer, that's somewhat debatable: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Lov..._contributions

While a clear majority of programmers I've worked with over the last 2 decades have been male, there have been more than a few women who ranked among some of the best -- so whether or not there are biological and/or societal influences that may tend to favor men in some way, they are by no means prohibitive. Hmm...as I think about it, most of them were blondes, destroying yet another stereotype.

[dalecosp]

Hmm...as I think about it, most of them were blondes, destroying yet another stereotype.

Of course at this point we'd want to know if your evaluation was influenced solely by their programming prowess, and attempt to establish whether their femininity and/or blonde-ness influenced your estimate of their abilities.

And, yes ... a given woman certainly could be "as good as" a given man ... it just happens that in many cases men are able to go farther; there are many reasons why this might be true, and it's hard to generalize.

edit: Break here; the sentence below is not placed as supporting evidence for the last part of the sentence above, but for the first part.[/edit]

I know, for example, that I've read tech articles by women and had to re-read the code and explanations several times just to get a handle on it....

[Bonesnap]

Either that or she's taking a damned long time making me that sammich!

"What's a good comeback when a man asks for a sandwich?"
"Well you better come back with a damned sandwich."

EDIT: At my old job there was a blonde, female web dev. She knew her stuff pretty well.

[Sveta Bond]

Thank you for your really meaningful replies. I guess the main problem of our society is old prejudices and stereotypes. For sure women can and have made great contributions to computer science, but of cause not so significant as men did
And I`m not a spam bot, it`s weird but my replies were not submitted

[dalecosp]

Sveta, that may be because you're a new member. Until you get a certain post count (I'm not sure what it is), the board's administrators have (I'm pretty sure) made it so that your posts must be approved by a human being.

And I, for one, like women in general and one very much in particular. If you ladies want to program machines, who am I to say that's not allowed? No argument here.

Here's an interesting take on the subject.

[Weedpacket]

Sveta, that may be because you're a new member. Until you get a certain post count (I'm not sure what it is), the board's administrators have (I'm pretty sure) made it so that your posts must be approved by a human being.

Until now I haven't seen any replies from Sveta Bond moderated or otherwise, only the two original posts (which did look suspicious from a spam-monitoring angle).

I guess the main problem of our society is old prejudices and stereotypes.

Which society are you talking about (there are many around the world)? In mine, girls are generally recognised as the better mathematicians and scientists throughout school; when they leave it's to enter a society in which mathematicians and scientists are poorly appreciated.