#code history

Dijkstra is well known nowadays as the inventor of structured programming—in which programs flow from top to bottom following a hierarchical model. As the terminology implies, this invention has made code more structured, and, more specifically, clearer, faster, better organized, and higher quality. 

That structured programming is one of Dijkstra’s central contributions makes sense given his advocacy for simplicity above all and his critical perspective on programming languages. This perspective is summed up nicely in a short, tongue-in-cheek essay called “How do we tell truths that might hurt?” that Dijkstra published in 1975. 

The essay is centered on aphoristic “truths” about programming. Most of these “truths” are blunt and biting. For example, “The use of COBOL cripples the mind.” Apart from his harsher truths, one statement resonates in particular:

The tools we use have a profound (and devious!) influence on our thinking habits, and, therefore, on our thinking abilities.

Dijkstra saw the programming languages available in the 70’s as flawed. His work toward improving them was in service not only of faster programs, but also of a more rigorous, innovative approach to programming. As we interpret it: using inadequate tools is damaging not only to programs but also to a programmer’s ability to think of elegant solutions to complex problems—an overarching theme in Dijkstra’s work. As he once said:

“If 10 years from now, when you are doing something quick and dirty, you suddenly visualize that I am looking over your shoulders and say to yourself, ‘Dijkstra would not have liked this,’ well that would be enough immortality for me.”

2. She created communities of women in computing

In 2015, Borg is best remembered for her work supporting, celebrating, and advocating for women who wanted to impact technology. This work gained momentum when she founded the online community Systers in 1987—years before online communities (let alone global communities of women in computer science) were a thing.

In 1994, while attending a conference with a notable lack of female representation, Borg had dinner with Telle Whitney and started the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing. Now the world’s largest gathering of its kind, this conference started with 500 attendees and was dedicated to bringing women’s achievements and research in computer science to the forefront.

She also founded the Institute for Women and Technology. According to Borg, the Institute was started to ensure women (regardless of whether or not they worked in tech) had opportunities to shape the technologies of the future.

"There are many ways that women can impact technology without being IN technology. We need both kinds of women… At IWT, we think that women must be involved in every aspect of defining the future of technology, from policy to research to design and implementation. We must be there in order to assure that the technology of the future serves us well."

3. She helped show Barbie that math is for everyone, not just boys

In general, Systers provided a place for technical women to discuss highly technical topics. But on occasion, non-technical discussion was sanctioned. One of these occasions happened in 1992 when a talking Barbie complained about math class.

Mattel’s Teen Talk Barbie was programmed to say 270 phrases including “Math class is tough.” If this doesn’t sound familiar to you, allow us to direct your attention to the recent Barbie: I Can Be a Computer Engineer controversy.

Because girls were playing with Barbies at an age when confidence in their math abilities needed to be bolstered, not undercut, protest stirred among the Systers list. Ultimately, they played a role in getting Mattel to remove the phrase.

The beauty of Borg’s advocacy lied in the belief that rallying women’s voices would add a distinct, yet critical perspective to technology. This diversity of thought would not only make the industry richer in the short run, but would help future technologies make a positive impact. In a time when technology touches people’s social, political, economic, and personal lives, it should serve everyone, regardless of their gender, age, or level of tech savviness. Advocating for women was her part in helping all people secure the power to shape their own futures.

Happy Birthday, Anita Borg! Thank you for making our community even better.

2. He dropped math "bombes" in World War II

After moving to Bletchley Park (a house where Britain kept its codebreakers during WWII that was as ugly as it sounds), he gathered fast intelligence for the British Army. Thanks to him, much of the content in coded messages sent by the German army were swiftly passed along to allied forces...and he didn't do it by just sitting there crunching numbers like an airplane passenger playing Sudoku.

The German military's cipher machine, appropriately named Enigma, was the source of the code. Turing initially developed and produced the prototype of the anti-Enigma "bombe"—an electro-mechanical device used to mechanize codebreaking that looked a lot like a backgammon board. The bombe cracked about two messages per minute (around 84,000 messages in total), including those used by the U-boats that threatened Britain's food supply. It's estimated that Bletchley Park's operation shortened the war in Europe by as many as two to four years. Read more about how Turing saved lives with math in WWII here and here.

3. He beat everyone to artificial intelligence

In the same decade Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics set rules for the thinking robots of science fiction, Turing founded the field of artificial intelligence and came up with a theoretical basis for it.

In 1950, he proposed a test to figure out whether or not machines could think, now widely known as the Turing test. It's kind of like reverse Captcha. And it implied that if we could write programs that were close enough to human cognition that they passed the Turing test, they wouldn't be programs anymore. They would be actual minds. At the time, this all seemed like Asimov fancy (probably even to Turing). And it's still not a very good way to actually determine whether or not a computer can think (although Eugene Goostman fooled a few folks). But it has inspired and challenged AI research from the start.

1. She was probably the world’s first programmer

In 1833, the cutting edge of computing looked something like this. This machine, called the Analytical Engine, was a mechanical computing device invented (but never actually built) by “the father of the computer” Charles Babbage. Had Babbage ever built the Engine, it would have been possible to “program” it to tabulate functions with punched, operational cards similar to the ones used in the 1940s to program some of the first modern computers.

Evidence of Lovelace’s role in computing history exists largely in correspondences with Babbage and in very thorough notes on a translation of a lecture on the Analytical Engine. In these annotations she was kind enough to include a description of an algorithm to calculate Bernoulli numbers. So, if the Analytical Engine was the first general-purpose computer, her notes were the first description of software, and she was the very first programmer.

2. She was the math-whiz daughter of a famous poet

Specifically, she was the only legitimate daughter of Lord Byron—original bad boy of poetry and owner of a very fine turban.

People often credit Lovelace’s numbers-heavy education to her mother’s objectively awful relationship with Byron. Actually, Lady Byron loved mathematics even before she was left with such a terrible impression of poets. She felt this supposedly opposite discipline would encourage mental stability and ward off wantonness. In retrospect, it seems like this wasn’t the most successful parenting strategy. Lovelace grew into a brilliant but incredibly complicated adult.

3. The U.S. Department of Defense named a programming language after her

The DoD developed a programming language called Ada (after Lovelace) in the 1970s. In 2014, Ada is not exactly a hot new trend in technology. It is, however, a reliable language still used by the military and in projects where safety is absolutely crucial, like air traffic control and transportation software. So remember to think of Ada Lovelace "the enchantress of numbers" while you are getting on the subway or enjoying a tiny bag of pretzels on a flight.