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Anonymous
2 Jul 2006 20:53:18 UTC
Topic 13377
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    Quote:
    My first tastes of computer was dialing into a PDP-11/45 back in '75 over a 110 baud modem, played some basic games, and learned a little about math.

    My first computer was a PDP-8, in 1975!!

    Bruce Allen
    Bruce Allen
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    Old Geezers Club

    8 Sep 2006 7:12:40 UTC
    Message 2941
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      Quote:
      My first programming class was in Quantico VA it was for COBOL and taught by a lady named Grace Hopper. The only thing I got was the understanding of a nanosecond, she used a piece of wire a little less than a foot long to represent the nanosecond and explained that a piece representing a second could strech nearly to the moon. I don't think anyone in the class understood more than 3 things that lady had to say in 6 weeks. She was a LtCmdr in the Navy and a prof at MIT. Her mind just worked on a different level than us poor dunb Marines. We were all asked to stay and retake the class in the next cycle from a guy with IBM.

      Wow!! Admiral Hopper was one of the pioneers of computing. She invented the compiler, for example.

      Bruce Allen
      Bruce Allen
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      RE: RE: Wow!! Admiral

      10 Sep 2006 8:25:57 UTC
      Message 2942
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        Quote:
        Quote:

        Wow!! Admiral Hopper was one of the pioneers of computing. She invented the compiler, for example.


        Thanks for introducing me to that site. If you read the biographies, most of those scientist women did research without any recognition, academic status and even salary! I think all jokes about women's brains are totally silly (I have a daughter with a degree in theoretical biophysics).
        Tullio

        Agreed. In fact my wife (Maria Alessandra Papa) is responsible for much of the core code and technique being used by the Einstein@Home application.

        An interesting side note is that (like Marialessandra) the majority of the women in the LIGO Scientific Collaboration are from Italy. And the physics departments that I have visited in Italy seem to have equal numbers of male and female students. This is quite different from many other places, such as the USA and Germany, where there are very few women compared with men. Italy is clearly doing something right in early and secondary science education.

        Bruce

        Bruce Allen
        Bruce Allen
        Joined: 15 Oct 04
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        Credit: 170,849,008
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        RE: RE: Wow!! Admiral

        10 Sep 2006 8:28:34 UTC
        Message 2943
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          Quote:
          Quote:
          Wow!! Admiral Hopper was one of the pioneers of computing. She invented the compiler, for example.

          Well, I reckon I've read about 150+ scientific text books, cover to cover, in my life and about 30 of those are dedicated to computing. Not one of them has mentioned that:
          a) The compiler had an inventor.
          b) It was a woman.
          c) Stated her name.
          Maybe Ada Lovelace gets a mention, or Melinda because she's married to Bill Gates and that's it......
          Cheers, Mike.

          See this web page for some more details, and use Google (:-). http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/hopper.html.

          Cheers,
          Bruce

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