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"Tech Heroes" From Ada Lovelace to Jamie Z
An anonymous reader writes "The Web 2.0 Journal has launched a search for what it calls "the all-time heroes of i-Technology" (its own shorthand for 'Internet technologies'), reaching as far back as to The Countess of Lovelace, though whether or not Ada Lovelace is truly the first programmer is not discussed. As an exercise in reminding ourselves whose shoulders we are standing on when hurtlng towards the 21st-century, richer Web it's not a bad start. Naturally there are sins of omission..."
The Web 2.0 Journal has launched a search for what it calls "the all-time heroes of i-Technology"
In the search for heroes, they should talk to a Mr. Mohinder Suresh. I hear he has a list.
Push Button, Receive Bacon
a Web 2 "journal" that doesn't even validate and uses tables for presentation (not to mention 20+adverts per page) spread over 18 pages
if that's what web 2 is all about i'm dreading Web 3
Yeah, like no CowboyNeal option!
Monstar L
A journal with that name just has to be a joke. Yes I did try to read the fucking article, but it was obscured by a large photograph of a bridge. I guess this was an advert.
Well I'm glad to see this web 2.0 is so user friendly.
Douglas Engelbart, the true father of desktop computing. At a time when computers were used merely for data processes, he envisioned they could be used in the everyday life.
I wonder if I use bold in my signature, people will notice my posts.
when hurtlng towards the 21st-century, richer Web
I think I'll stick to plain HTML 4.0.1 if web 2.0 is going to hurt that much.
home
How is it possible to create a list of the most important people in technology throughout history and _not_ include Shannon. Jeez, the guy is the father of information theory and digital circuit design!
How could they forget Alan Turing? The inventor of the Turing test for AI, and father of the modern computer?
How to make a flamewar in under F characters: I love SuSE!
Andy Hertzfield: Eazel developer and Macintosh forefather
Jean Ichbiah: Creator of Ada
Grace Murray Hopper: Developer of the first compiled high level programming language, COBOL
Jordan Hubbard: One of the creators of FreeBSD; currently a manager of Apple's Darwin project
Jean D Ichbiah: Principal designer, Ada language (1977)
Ken Iverson: Inventor of APL, later J
I've never used ADA, is it really so good that its inventor had to be listed twice in the same list?
Of course that was the problem: When Ada came out only very powerfull system where able to run an Ada compiler so not many programmers could actualy try the language.
But that's not a problem any more, grap yourself an open source Ada compiler [1] and see for yourself.
As for Ruby: That seems a nice enough language as well. Never given me any problems. So where actually is your problem?
Martin
[1] http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Ada_Programming/Inst
He's an absolutely huge omission from the list.
If you're unaware, he wrote a memo in 1945 titled 'As we may think' which laid down a lot of seminal ideas about information, computing devices (the Memex) and the way in which we interact with it - specifically the concept of hypertext.
If you haven't already read his memo, give it a shot. Along with Alvin Toffler's book 'Future Shock', this changed the way I view technology for ever... oh, stick Alvin Toffler on the list too, Bill Gates for 'commoditising' the PC, Gordon Moore, pretty much anyone who ever worked at Xerox PARC and the guy who invented the MP3 codec. They're all important to why we're sat here today.
American Dental Association...
Americans for Democratic Action...
Assistant District Attorney...
American Diabetes Association...
which of them [1] are you sick off?
I personaly am sick of people who don't know that a "A female given name."[2] is not spelled all upper case.
Martin
[1] http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ADA
[2] http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Ada
"In 1924 and 28, Nyquist and Hartley published the limits to communication over a noisy channel. In 1949, Shannon and Weaver published a book on the same subject. Shannon got the credit for Nyquists' and Hartley's work. He also claimed the 34 year old sampling theorem as his own work.
H. Nyquist, "Certain Factors Affecting Telegraph Speed," Bell Systems Tech. Jour., vol. 3, April 1924, p. 324
H. Nyquist, "Certain Topics in Telegraph Transmission Theory," A.I.E.E. Trans., vol. 47, April 1828, p. 617
R. V. L. Hartley, "The Transmission of Information"Bell Systems Tech. Jour., vol. 7, July 1928, pp. 535-564"
http://www.analog-rf.com/mixer.shtml
I'd say Shannon is a candidate for someone who got credit that belonged to someone else.
Lamarr was in Hollywood in 1937.
U.S. Patent Number 2,292,387, August 11th, 1942, [was awarded to Hedy Lamarr] under the name 'Hedy Keisler Markey' (her married name) and George Antheil, for a 'Secret Communications System.' Nomination for the EFF Pioneer award
Lamarr's first husband was an independent munitions maker interested in control systems whose European properties were confiscated by the Reich in 1938. George Antheil, an avant-garde composer interested in the related problem of synchronizing non-traditional "instruments" in concert performance. Advanced Weaponry of the Stars
Hitler wanted to win by bluff and before the war started, invited public figures from England and the US to see how invincible his military was.
Hitler was always alert to the propaganda value of massive displays of troops and guns and planes.
But he was not such a fool as to prematurely expose the secret technologies of jet propulsion, radar, guided missiles, the Enigma, etc., that, in the end, might prove decisive.
I don't know James Long, Ph.D, but he seems to have an ax to grind. Most people who met Hedy Lamarr would verify she was extremely intelligent. Her husband in the early 30's, Fritz Mandal, was an engineer and producer of aircraft, artilery, and early weapons guidance. It would appear Hedy learned a thing or two during their time together.
There are many accounts of Lamarr explaining the process by which she and George Antheil invented the concept of frequency hopping. At the outbreak of WWII Hedy had in idea for a torpedo guidance system. Antheil suggested a way to sync the necessary systems together using a roll of punched paper (as in a player piano)