Slashdot Mirror


Untangling the Tale of Ada Lovelace

theodp writes: To commemorate the 200th birthday of Ada Lovelace, Google's CS Education in Media Program partnered with YouTube Kids on Happy Birthday Ada! for Computer Science Education Week. For those seeking (much!) more information on The Enchantress of Numbers, Stephen Wolfram has penned a pretty epic blog post, Untangling the Tale of Ada Lovelace. "Ada Lovelace was born 200 years ago today," Wolfram begins. "To some she is a great hero in the history of computing; to others an overestimated minor figure. I've been curious for a long time what the real story is. And in preparation for her bicentennial, I decided to try to solve what for me has always been the 'mystery of Ada'." If you're not up for the full 12,000+ word read, skip to "The Final Story" for the TL;DR summary.

2 of 124 comments (clear)

  1. Hero? by mi · · Score: 1, Troll

    To some she is a great hero in the history of computing

    All respect to women, programmers, engineers, and human-beings in general notwithstanding, don't you need to have undertaken something dangerous to qualify for the term "hero"? Especially "great hero"?

    The dictionary definition mentions "exceptional courage and nobility and strength"...

    --
    In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
  2. Re:SJW Monday! by vel-ex-tech · · Score: 1, Troll

    I know, how eloquent! A gentleman... wait.

    Let me try again.

    All this hand-wavey bullshit about how "misogynerds" like me (again, the premise being that I'm male because I was born with an oversized clitoris) are chasing women out of tech is simply fucking wrong.

    Oh, sure, you want to pretend I'm the one being sexist. That fits the convenient bullshit Narrative. You don't go after the asshole managers that chased them out, do you? Why not? Gee, I wonder.

    So sure, I'm the one being sexist. I will admit that at this point, yes, those two women are better people than I'll ever be. I let you get to me, and that was a mistake.

    I want to be absolutely fucking clear here. Anybody who invokes the difference engine is a cow. (Nods to cow guy up there.) When somebody says "difference engine" in response to Ada Lovelace, they reveal they're a dipshit who doesn't know anything about Lovelace.

    Yes, I'm angry. I'm fucking angry. Have you even read her Notes? Has anybody else in this fucking thread read her Notes? I have. Have you? They're pretty good. She predicts MP3 players and video games.

    The reason I am angry is that none of the SJWs (expand: social juggalo warriors) who keep pouring on this bullshit have read her Notes. They don't understand a single basic fucking thing about computers, much less the Analytical Engine architecture. Yet, they can conclude, based upon nothing except my assigned gender at birth that I am part of a vast conspiracy to keep women out of tech.

    Nope, sorry, bzzzzzt wrong. You never, ever go after the asshole, sexually harassing, bigoted, sexist managers who are the reason those two talented women I know don't have programming jobs. Yes, I said sexual harassment. I busted one manager for sexual harassment, and then he doubled down on whatever the fuck was his deal until she just quit. Yes, I said bigoted and sexist. There is a lawsuit still open for gender discrimination in the case of the other. I hope that fucking asshole executive fucking gets hit with a 6 figure judgement.

    Nope, sorry, not the fault of "misogynerds" like me. Not my fault I was born with a clitoris that was a centimeter too large. Go to hell. All of you SJWs can go to hell. Or at least, I don't care. See the username. The first chance I get, the first moment it's financially feasible for me, I am done with tech. Fuck tech. Fuck you. Fuck SJWs. And fuck gaslighting asshole managers.