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[[Image:Ada 1838.jpg|right|thumb|200px]]

[[Image:Ada 1838.jpg|right|thumb|200px]]

'''Ada Lovelace''' is widely credited as "the first computer programmer"<ref>[http:://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/Ada_and_the_First_Computer.pdf from Scientific American, May 1999]</ref>, though there are diverse opinions on this, since the computer had not yet been invented.  The claim arises from the fact that she was first to publish a paper (in 1843) containing a mathematical algorithm ''encoded for the purpose of being executed by an automatically controlled digital computer''.  That computer was the "analytical engine" designed by [[Charles Babbage]].  It was never built, because Babbage's design was way ahead of its time.  The program calculated [[Bernoulli numbers]].  (Babbage undoubtedly also wrote some "code" as examples for the analytical engine, but it wasn't published, and it didn't perform a recognizable function.)

'''Ada Lovelace''' is widely credited as "the first computer programmer"<ref>[http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/Ada_and_the_First_Computer.pdf from Scientific American, May 1999]</ref>, though there are diverse opinions on this, since the computer had not yet been invented.  The claim arises from the fact that she was first to publish a paper (in 1843) containing a mathematical algorithm ''encoded for the purpose of being executed by an automatically controlled digital computer''.  That computer was the "analytical engine" designed by [[Charles Babbage]].  It was never built, because Babbage's design was way ahead of its time.  The program calculated [[Bernoulli numbers]].  (Babbage undoubtedly also wrote some "code" as examples for the analytical engine, but it wasn't published, and it didn't perform a recognizable function.)

Ada had to write the algorithm on paper, rather than at a keypunch or computer terminal, of course.  But she actually, to use modern terminology, "wrote code".  Also, since the term "program" had not been coined, she described her algorithm as a "plan".  In the 20th century, the program was carefully analyzed and simulated, and found to have a minor "bug".  In 1983, a team of researchers at United States Department of Defense designed a computer language named '''Ada'''.  It is not widely used.

Ada had to write the algorithm on paper, rather than at a keypunch or computer terminal, of course.  But she actually, to use modern terminology, "wrote code".  Also, since the term "program" had not been coined, she described her algorithm as a "plan".  In the 20th century, the program was carefully analyzed and simulated, and found to have a minor "bug".  In 1983, a team of researchers at United States Department of Defense designed a computer language named '''Ada'''.  It is not widely used.