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Discussion on: SHE CAN CODE!

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tux0r profile image
tux0r

ENIAC programming was a manual task, basically "rewiring cables". I would not say that those weren't brilliant - it's just that their job was totally not what we today call "programming".

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Kasey Speakman

Punching holes in paper was also programming at some point...

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Drew Taylor • Edited

@tux0r ty for your mansplaining ∩༼˵☯‿☯˵༽つ¤=[]:::::>

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tux0r profile image
tux0r

Did you just assume my gender?

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Drew Taylor

Definitely! Prove me wrong.

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tux0r profile image
tux0r

Damnit. You win.

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dwd profile image
Dave Cridland

In the old days, electronic computers fell into two camps - analog and digital. These days, digital computers have taken over, mostly because of stored program capabilities, but both were originally programmed by wiring as needed. It's not what we today call programming.

The first stored program computers were, in turn, programmed by entering the numeric opcodes and supporting data directly into memory (often via a separate programming board). It's not what we today call programming.

Rapidly, though, Kathleen Booth (Britten at the time) developed the first assembly language in 1947, and assemblers were developed from this - you then programmed by writing symbolic instructions that mapped directly to opcodes. It's not what we today call programming.

Then Grace Hopper developed a high-level portable language, previously largely considered impossible, and this (alongside Jean Sammet and others' work) lead to the development of COBOL in 1959. It's not what we today call programming.

Later, Mary Kennth Keller and others developed BASIC, a simple symbolc language especially designed for teaching. It's not what we today call programming.

These days, everyone just does stuff in Javascript in a web browser. That's not what I call programming.

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dwd profile image
Dave Cridland

Oh, there were some guys involved too, I think.

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tux0r profile image
tux0r

What do you call programming then?

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dwd profile image
Dave Cridland

Actually, I call all of them programming, I was just letting my inner snark fly free.

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Pascal Charbonneau

Interestingly all those languages you mentioned were part of my journey as a programmer. From BASIC on the VIC-20, through Assembly and COBOL.

So I do owe some gratitude to all those amazing women who made me the coder I am today.

Thanks for reminding me of our history :)