Programming the Harvard Mark I (1944)
One of the first programmers of the Mark I under Howard Aiken; co-wrote its manual
Science · Maths, astronomy, medicine & more
Grace Hopper
1906–1992 · American
Computing — programming languages
Grace Hopper was an American computer scientist and US Navy rear admiral who was one of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark I. At the Eckert–Mauchly company she developed the A-0 system, one of the first compilers, and the English-like language FLOW-MATIC, which strongly influenced COBOL. Nicknamed "Amazing Grace", she championed machine-independent, human-readable programming languages and was the oldest serving officer in the US Navy when she retired in 1986.
How to spot them
- ▸'Amazing Grace'; 'Grandma COBOL'; rear admiral in the US Navy
- ▸Harvard Mark I with Howard Aiken
- ▸The moth taped into the Mark II logbook — 'first actual case of bug being found'
- ▸A-0 compiler, FLOW-MATIC and COBOL
- ▸Handing out foot-long wires to show a nanosecond
Key discoveries & works
A-0 System, an early compiler (1952)
Translated symbolic mathematical code into machine code for the UNIVAC I
FLOW-MATIC (1955–59)
An early data-processing language using English words, a major influence on COBOL
COBOL (Common Business-Oriented Language) (1959)
Designed by the CODASYL committee, for which she was a technical adviser, building on her FLOW-MATIC
Moth recorded as the 'first actual case of bug being found' (1947)
A moth taped into the Harvard Mark II logbook; the log is at the Smithsonian
Key ideas
- Programs should be written in English-like languages and compiled, not hand-coded in machine code
- Machine-independent programming languages that run on computers from different makers
- 'It's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission' — her often-quoted motto
Quick-fire facts
- •Born Grace Brewster Murray in New York City
- •PhD in mathematics from Yale University in 1934
- •Joined the US Naval Reserve (WAVES) in 1943 and was assigned to the Harvard Mark I project
- •Retired from the Navy in 1986 aged 79 as a rear admiral, then the oldest serving officer
- •Illustrated a nanosecond with pieces of wire about 30 cm (11.8 inches) long, the distance light travels in that time
- •Received the National Medal of Technology in 1991 and a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016
- •The destroyer USS Hopper is named after her
- •Yale renamed Calhoun College as Grace Hopper College in 2017
- •The Grace Hopper Celebration is a major conference for women in computing
Drill it — 7 cards
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Sources
- MacTutor History of Mathematics, University of St Andrews — Grace Brewster Murray Hopper
- Kurt W. Beyer — Grace Hopper and the Invention of the Information Age