Reply to: Lets hear it for the girls!

[vetran]

D'ya know before I googled Grace I had a mental picture of someone with horn rimmed glasses, thick tights and sensible shoes

gotta love a girl in Uniform!

[Troll]

COBOL was designed in 1959, by CODASYL and was partly based on previous programming language design work by Grace Hopper, commonly referred to as "the (grand)mother of COBOL"

D'ya know before I googled Grace I had a mental picture of someone with horn rimmed glasses, thick tights and sensible shoes

[BrilloPad]

When I started coding in banks, some veterans told me how they initially were placed in with the typists as both used a keyboard.

They were subjected to merciless taunting from the "ladies". Sexism was rife.

[NigelJK]

COBOL invented by (mainly) a woman

COBOL was designed in 1959, by CODASYL and was partly based on previous programming language design work by Grace Hopper, commonly referred to as "the (grand)mother of COBOL"

True genius does not have a sex. Average programmers need not apply.

I have seen far more bad code from males, but then again I've only ever had 2 females on any of my teams, and their code was on a par with their male colleges. I think the OP was pointing at the statistical 'significance' of the result being in question, not the analysis (I've not read it because when it comes to bad use of statistics there seems to be no limits, sex or otherwise and far outstrips any notion of fairness or equality in it's bad effects).

[vetran]

You used that joke at the time, got a similar reaction that time too

you mean we shouldn't take the Piss out of her?

[mudskipper]

Many years ago, women played a very vital role in computing, for example my mother was a programmer on LEO along with quite a few others, and then there were these: Big computers, big hair: the women of Bell Labs in the 1960s – in pictures | Technology | The Guardian

The last project I did, the majority of systems programmers were women, including the management on that side. Interestingly enough, the techies doing the more menial work were men...

Someone posted this before - might have been you.

In the 60s computer programming was considered ‘women’s work’ – Us Vs Th3m

[darmstadt]

Many years ago, women played a very vital role in computing, for example my mother was a programmer on LEO along with quite a few others, and then there were these: Big computers, big hair: the women of Bell Labs in the 1960s – in pictures | Technology | The Guardian

The last project I did, the majority of systems programmers were women, including the management on that side. Interestingly enough, the techies doing the more menial work were men...

[NickFitz]

Nice to see a thread about a study showing that women's contributions to programming projects are rejected if it's known they are women get derailed by some troll arguing that women don't deserve to be taken seriously as programmers

And I don't know anything about this supposed ranting at Yahoo! management by somebody who, AFAIK, has absolutely nothing to do with the study; but having worked at Yahoo! I can assert with confidence that the higher levels of management there deserve it

[original PM]

I reckon linda lovelace did more for the feminist movement

O

[SueEllen]

3rd time lucky?

I feel your pain

I was annoyed at the first football match I had to queue in the ladies even though the queue was 2 people - me and one other adult lady. I've never had to queue at an IT conference.

[mudskipper]

You used that joke at the time, got a similar reaction that time too

3rd time lucky?

[SimonMac]

Given that there are far more men than women in IT, I'm guessing the % of code by women is small.

I attended a Microsoft web developers day last month - in a room of around 50 people, there were two women. On the plus side, there was no queue for the ladies

You used that joke at the time, got a similar reaction that time too

[mudskipper]

That's perhaps what I'm after (not read it yet) . Thanks.
I have a very young niece & a child sometime soon that has a roughly 50/50 chance of being female. I don't want him or her growing up in an environment where they are just a pip in a quota, or a pawn in someone's nihilistic ideology of equality of outcome. I want them both to grow up knowing who they are, in the world they are in, and to take what they want - regardless of anyone else's infantilising ideas of what they think they should or shouldn't have.

Sue Black's rants regarding thing like Carol Bartz at Yahoo, etc, make me sick of it all and naturally suspicious. I don't feel bad about being prejudiced towards feminists with short red/blue hair in the same way I don't feel bad but being prejudiced towards young hoodies down dark alleys. But I'd prefer to know, where I can, if it's justified in individual cases.

I have no idea what rants etc. you are on about - I simply don't follow the antics of people who wind me up.

Whether or not she "deserves" the title, I am wondering why the validity of claims made about Lovelace's contribution should be subject to more scrutiny than any other from the time? It may not be your intention, but it does come across as if you think the fact that she is a woman makes her less credible. There are plenty of examples of rose tinted hindsight when looking at the achievements from that age of discovery.

[SpontaneousOrder]

She is generally regarded as being more visionary than Babbage on the potential capabilities, for example seeing the potential of using numbers to represent other than quantity.

The notes for which she is famous are here

Sketch of The Analytical Engine

Their work was a collaboration, and ideas tend to feed ideas.

From my limited knowledge, it doesn't appear to be incorrect to regard her as the person who invented programming.

That's perhaps what I'm after (not read it yet) . Thanks.
I have a very young niece & a child sometime soon that has a roughly 50/50 chance of being female. I don't want him or her growing up in an environment where they are just a pip in a quota, or a pawn in someone's nihilistic ideology of equality of outcome. I want them both to grow up knowing who they are, in the world they are in, and to take what they want - regardless of anyone else's infantilising ideas of what they think they should or shouldn't have.

Sue Black's rants regarding thing like Carol Bartz at Yahoo, etc, make me sick of it all and naturally suspicious. I don't feel bad about being prejudiced towards feminists with short red/blue hair in the same way I don't feel bad but being prejudiced towards young hoodies down dark alleys. But I'd prefer to know, where I can, if it's justified in individual cases.

[SueEllen]

There was a BBC 4 program on Ada Lovelace which probably is available on iPlayer, failing that on YouTube.

Ada apparently saw more uses for Babbage's machine and tried to get more funding for him to build an improved version. After the government refused because Babbage was a difficult character, she tried to raise the money by betting on horses but lost it all.