@strawnGraceHopperCompilers2015
Title: [@strawnGraceHopperCompilers2015] date: 2023-02-10 type: reference project: Memex1
tags:: Memex1, Source, Woman, Information, Computer, Erasure
Reference¶
Strawn, G and Strawn, C. 2015 Grace Hopper: Compilers and Cobol. IT Professional 17(1): 62–64. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/MITP.2015.6.
Summary & Key Take Aways¶
This article, written by George and Candace Strawn, narrates and illustrates the innovative role of Grace Hopper in computers and the information age. Other than Ada Countess Lovelace in the 19th century, Hopper was the first computer scientist of the 20th century. The article offer a biographical exploration of Grace Hopper's achievement in computers and her role in the information age. Hopper was the first person to insist that computers "should speak human-like languages" (Strawn 2015, 62). She thus began working on compilers like A-0 and A-2. Hopper also heavily contributed in the creation of the Cobol60, a compiler book, which became the standard in 1968. The authors end with an insight on declining women computer science majors, which helps bring awareness that the IT field are not filled with men, but that women have contributed just as much and has had just a big an impact.
Albeit short, I think this article is just as valuable as the others because it explicitly states the contribution and roles of women in the male-dominated discipline of technology and computer. It makes you reflect on everything that is missing in the catalogue of the internet and who is being left out. These articles help bring those people back in history.