The History of Women And Computing :: Computer Science Technology Essays

The register of Women And Computing Think for a moment, if you will, about your personal computer and the tasks you crave that it perform each day. More likely than not your answers include computation, article processing, communication, and research. Did it make sense for John A.N. Lee to label women lady computers (14)? The pose that Lee makes in his editorial is that women since the late 1800s have performed computation and secretarial duties for their male superiors and therefore they can be equated with computers (15). In actuality, many sources tally on that fact that women played a much larger berth in the development of computing then they have been given assurance for in the history books. There have been many female contributors to the expansion of computing machines and computer science and several of the pioneers of computing technology were female. adenosine deaminase Byron Lovelace is one of the few women who get credit for her early work in computing. She lived during the 1800s working closely with Babbage on his Analytic Engine. When translating Babbages lectures, Lovelace added her own extensive notes to the hooey (Gurer, Pioneering Women 175). She was able to visualize how the Engine could be programmed to complete other tasks, such(prenominal) as playing music, and was the first to envision and understand the potential for a computing machine. Lovelace developed concepts in computing that are still utilize today, such as a method of storing sequences (subroutines) of operations or instructions and the Department of Defense has named their high-level programming language in follow of her contributions and pioneering spirit (Gurer, Women 116- 117 Gurer, Pioneering Women 175). The conclusion of the Second World War and the commencement of the mercantile Computing age seem to go mitt in hand (Ceruzzi 13). During this era, a number of American women fell in line with the Rosie th e rivetter stereotype and entered the work force to take the place of the men who were displace overseas to fight in the war. Meanwhile, the University of Pennsylvania was beginning the ENIAC project, working to arrive at a computer that would run ballistic calculations for the army.