Ada Byron Lovelace was the first programmer. Interesting Programming Facts
Programmer A person who writes programs for computers.
Such a short description is understandable to everyone, but does not reflect the full picture, because programmers can write software for a huge variety of electronic devices, not just computers. Look around, in many things around you there is the result of the work of programmers, ranging from toys, household appliances and ending with cars, airplanes and space rockets. Thus, the profession of a programmer is in great demand and, more importantly, the demand for a programmer in the labor market will only grow along with the inexorable increase in the number of things and technology for which you need to write software.
The huge demand for the profession and the bright prospects for its position in the labor market make the specialty of a programmer one of the most successful career choices. Even at the initial stages, the salary of a programmer is above the average for the market, and with the acquisition of experience, this gap only increases. A good specialist can receive more than 100,000 rubles. per month or more.
A programmer is one of the unique professions that offer endless scope for creativity, self-realization and personal projects for the soul or earning money.
For successful work, a programmer does not need a higher education, this is one of the professions that, thanks to a large number books, online courses and other sources of information, are mastered independently if there is such a desire. The most important thing in the development and work of a programmer is experience, and it is gained independently, working on your own or other people's projects, helping people on forums, studying open source programs and in many other ways. Thus, at the interview, the presence of higher education during the interview will be a definite plus, but the main decisive factor in accepting a job will be the result of completing test tasks.
Programmer specializations
Conventionally, programmers can be divided into 3 large groups, which can be divided into smaller ones already within themselves: these are system, application and web programmers. Let's consider each group in more detail.
System programmer - writes software that is designed to make the device work as a whole or be used by other computer professionals. These can be operating systems, drivers, interfaces to databases, networking, and more. Another task of system programmers is to ensure the correct and uninterrupted operation of the created programs. System programmers are usually the most professional, experienced and highly paid specialists.
Application programmer- develops and debugs software to solve certain, specific tasks, and can also adapt existing programs to narrower tasks, the requirements of an employer or user. The result of the work of applied programmers include: games, photo and video editors, messaging programs, accounting programs, audio and video surveillance systems, office programs, and more.
Web Programmer - in terms of work and tasks, it is similar to an application programmer, but the main bias of activity goes to work with the Internet and network users, both local and global. Such programmers write software for the operation of sites, their correct display in browsers, create dynamically changing pages and develop interfaces to databases. Inside, they can be divided into frontend, which develop the part visible to users, and backend developers, who develop mechanisms that site visitors do not directly encounter - working with databases, processing, transferring information, etc.
Possible places of work
History of the profession
The profession of a programmer appeared quite a long time ago, in the 19th century. Of course, these were not the programmers we are accustomed to: computers as such did not yet exist, respectively, and there was nothing to write programs with algorithms for.
For many centuries, mankind has tried to create a calculating machine: the first attempts have been known since ancient Babylon, 3000 BC. Blaise Pascal, who created the calculating machine in 1642, became the founder and discoverer.
Interestingly, the first programmer was a woman, and not just a woman, but the daughter of the famous poet Byron, Ada Lovelace, who wrote several programs for a mechanical machine designed by Charles Babbage in 1833, which could perform simple arithmetic operations.
The first full-fledged computer was created by the German Konrad Zuse in 1941. There were no programming languages then, they appeared closer to the sixties of the last century, and computers (electronic computers) understood only their own, machine language. Later, programming languages appeared that allowed the process of writing a program in a form more understandable to a person and then converting it into a form understandable to a computer.
This was followed by an increasingly accelerating process of development of computers and computer science, as a result of which computing devices penetrated into all spheres and existence. modern world without them is simply impossible. That is why the profession of a programmer is one of the most sought after and highly paid.
On one's own
As mentioned earlier, the profession of a programmer is perfectly mastered without obtaining a higher education. At your disposal a huge amount of reference information, books, online and offline courses.
Educational IT portal GeekBrains offers a variety of programming courses for all levels with renowned teachers and free internships. There are both paid and a significant number of free courses.
If you are at a loss with the initial choice, then the free course "Fundamentals of Programming" will definitely help you.
Hurry up to start learning. The discount for studying the profession "Programmer" is valid for you only for 3 days!
classical higher education
You can get a higher education in the field of information technology in a variety of universities. When applying, it is better to focus on large or federal universities, well-proven in the preparation of IT-specialists with a good educational base with well-known programmers as teachers. Another factor in the quality of education is the percentage of graduates employed in their specialty, especially those working in the most famous companies: Microsoft, Google, Yandex, SKB-Kontur and others.
In Russia, programmers are trained in the following specialties:
02.03.02 - Fundamental informatics and Information Technology(undergraduate)
02.04.02 - Fundamental Informatics and Information Technology (Master's degree)
09.03.03 - Applied Informatics (bachelor's degree)
04/09/03 - Applied Informatics (Master's degree)
03/02/01 - Mathematics and Computer Science (bachelor's degree)
04/02/01 - Mathematics and Computer Science (Master's degree)
09.01.02 - Computer security
The future of the programming profession
We can safely say that the need for programmers and related professions will only increase. Increasing complexity and the need for more programs will lead to higher wages and benefits, and there will be competition for true programming professionals.
Programmer Responsibilities
On the basis of scientific, technical and production tasks, the programmer develops software for their successful implementation. It determines the type, content and form of information entered into the computer, methods and methods of its processing, storage and output of finished results on the screen or printing means.
He is engaged in debugging his own and other people's programs, eliminating errors and improving functionality. Determines the need and possibility of using a third-party software at the enterprise.
Works on the unification and automation of computing processes, participates in the development of standard forms of enterprise documents for machine processing and storage.
Pros and cons of being a programmer
pros
- High demand in the labor market
- Wages are well above average
- Excellent social package (meals, payment for the gym, compensation for internships)
- Opportunity to work as a freelancer with foreign clients
- You can develop personal projects for the soul or earn money
- Prestigious profession
- Creative profession with the opportunity to realize oneself
- Opportunity to retrain in related industries
Minuses
- The need to constantly improve skills
- Prolonged sedentary work at the computer
- The possibility of emergency work and the need to urgently complete the project overtime
- Often there is a large amount of work
- Possible lack of interpersonal communication
Requirements for a programmer
The programmer must have a sharp mind, developed logic and attention. Since programming is rapidly developing all the time, it is necessary to be able to quickly adapt to new conditions and be ready to constantly learn new technologies. Otherwise, his value as a professional will decline over time.
For some programmers who do not freelance or do their own development, it is important to be able to work in a team using a variety of modern methodologies: SCRUM, KANBAN, AGILE and others. To move up the career ladder and work in project management or as a lead programmer, it is highly desirable to have team and task management skills, the ability to take personal responsibility for the implementation of tasks.
Such qualities as independence, responsibility and initiative are important for any profession, and programmers are no exception.
Another important and necessary requirement for a programmer is the ability to English language at the level of reading documentation and reference information in the original. All novelties and modern technologies are developed abroad and it is better to read the information in the original source.
Programmers salary
Approximate wages listed. Depending on the region and the employer, it can vary significantly.
Funny videos about programmers
Programmer's Day is celebrated on September 12th. The day was not chosen randomly and symbolically: it is the 256th day of the year, and 256 is the number of numbers that can be expressed through an eight-bit byte.
The profession of a programmer is one of the ten most sought-after professions in the world.
A quarter of all programming time is spent thinking about what the user can do wrong and how to prevent it.
The Python programming language is not named after pythons at all, although icons, logos, and ubiquitous fan art depict them. The author of the language loved the series Monty Python's Flying Circus and named the language after him.
The most expensive hyphen in history cost $135,000,000 when, thanks to a missing hyphen in one of the equations, Mariner 1, the first spacecraft to explore Venus, crashed shortly after launch.
A programmer is not a computer repair specialist. Although, thanks to ingrained stereotypes, they are constantly asked to fix computers and even household appliances.
Women make up only a few percent of the total number of programmers in the world. It's a shame, especially considering the fact that the first programmer in history was a woman.
Sometimes, to debug a program, programmers use the so-called "Duckling Method", when a duckling figure is placed in front of the monitor (the classic version is a yellow duckling for swimming) and line by line it is explained to it what the program should do. Often this method allows you to identify errors that are missed simply by looking at the written code.
Notable programmers
Richard Stallman- founder of the free software movement, the Free Software Foundation and the League for Programming Freedom, the GNU Project.
Donald Knuth- scientist, emeritus professor at Stanford University, teacher and ideologist of programming. Author of many monographs and the world-famous series of books "The Art of Programming". Creator of METAFONT and TEX publishing systems for typing and layout of scientific and technical books.
Bill Gates Entrepreneur, public figure, philanthropist. The founder of Microsoft and the richest man on the planet. One of the champions in the transfer of funds to charity.
Linus Torvalds- Creator of the Linux kernel, the most widely distributed free operating systems.
Alexey Pajitnov- Soviet programmer, author of the famous Tetris. After moving to the USA, he continues to develop computer games.
Steve Wozniak- co-founder of Apple, single-handedly designed the Apple I and Apple II computers, which determined the development of the industry and began the microcomputer revolution.
Eugene Kaspersky- Russian programmer, one of the world's leading experts in the field of information security. Co-founder, owner and head of the international company JSC Kaspersky Lab.
Mark Zuckerberg- American programmer and entrepreneur, one of the founders and developers of the largest international social network Facebook.
Pavel Durov- Russian programmer and entrepreneur, one of the founders of the leading domestic social network Vkontakte. One of the creators of the secure messenger Telegram.
Dennis Ritchie- a computer specialist who participated in the creation of the BCPL, B, C programming languages and the development of the Multics and Unix operating systems.
Quotes about programmers
When everything seems to be working, everything is integrated into the system - you still have four months of work left - C. Portman
Random number generation is too important a matter to be left to chance - R. Kovzu
Error? It's not a bug, it's a system feature - D. Wendell
The user doesn't know what he wants until he sees what he got - E. Yodan
If debugging is the process of removing errors, then programming should be the process of introducing them - E. Dijkstra
Computers are incomparable: in a few minutes they can make such a huge mistake that many people are not able to make in many months - M. Meacham
In any program there are errors - an axiom.
Murphy's laws for programmers
The complexity of the program grows until it exceeds the ability of the programmer.
The more mistakes a programmer makes, the faster he becomes a scientist.
If you managed to write a program the first time in which the interpreter did not find any errors, be sure to inform the system programmer about this. It will fix errors in the interpreter.
The programmer sees errors only in other people's programs.
If the written program worked correctly, then, most likely, the programmer did not understand the task.
The program team always abhors the weekly reporting of results, because it is too obvious a lack of results.
Absolutely any program always costs more and requires more time than expected.
If the program is already fully debugged, then it will need to be redone.
Any program tends to take up all available memory.
The most serious bug will only be discovered when the program has been in production for at least six months.
Increasing the number of programmers to develop a program that doesn't meet deadlines only slows things down.
A poorly planned program takes three times as long as expected; perfectly planned - only in two.
If the program is useful, then it will definitely have to be redone.
There is always one more error in any program.
It is absolutely impossible to create a program that is absolutely foolproof, because fools are extremely inventive.
If development is going well, expect serious complications.
If it seems that there is nowhere worse, then it will soon become clear that this is far from the case.
If you do not understand the term in the technical documentation, then feel free to ignore it, the meaning will not be affected in any way.
Always leave space for an explanation of why a program you write does not work as expected.
If builders erected buildings in the same way that programmers write programs, the first woodpecker that flew in would destroy human civilization to its foundations.
Her whole life was the apotheosis of the great battle between the world of emotions and the world of logic, between the subjective and the objective, between poetry and mathematics, between poor health and bursts of energy!
Betty Tuul. Ada: The Enchantress of Numbers
Ada Lovelace's life forms a kind of mythical resonance with our digital age: the reverent visits to Ada's grave now outnumber the pilgrimages to that of her father, the poet Byron.
Bruce Sterling
December 10 became the Day of the programmer in honor of the first representative of this not too ancient profession, Ada Byron, who was born on this day. Precisely because the daughter of the poet Byron remained in the history of science - rightly or wrongly - a good fairy, leaning towards the cradle of the first computer. Billing herself as "The High Priestess of Babbage's Machine," Ada was indeed more than just a symbolic figure in Victorian salons...
Ada Augusta Byron-King, Countess of Lovelace, was born exactly 200 years ago, on December 10, 1815 in London, in an outstanding family for a conservative, prudish country. At the insistence of her father, the poet George Noel Gordon, Lord Byron, in whose veins the blood of the powerful Scottish Gordon clan flowed, the girl received the first name Augusta (Augusta) in honor of his half-sister (paternally) with whom he was rumored to have had novel and to which the poet dedicated the famous Stanzas to Augusta. The father, who saw his daughter for the first and last time a month after birth, left his wife and went to revolutionary Garibaldian Italy when the girl was two months old, and did not appear again in the family circle. On April 21, 1816, Byron signed the official divorce. Numerous biographers invariably mention that the father dedicated to little Ada, his only legitimate child, just a few touching lines in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (translated by G. Shengeli):
"O my daughter! I am in your name
Opened the chapter; they need to finish.
Forever I will remain your family,
Even though I can't look at you.
Only you - in the shadows of distant years - is a joy.
In your visions of my future
The melody, forgotten by me from childhood, will enter,
And touches the heart with live music,
When mine freezes in an icy grave".
There are several more stanzas in the same tone, and they end with a father's blessing:
"Sleep sweetly in the cradle, without worry:
I'm across the sea, from a mountain height
I send blessings to you, beloved,
What could you become for my languor!",
But at the same time, in a letter to his cousin, he worried in advance: " I hope that the gods gave her everything except the poetic gift - one madman in the family is enough ...". But there were other lines dedicated to the daughter. Here is an excerpt from "Farewell to Lady Byron" (translated by I. Kozlov):
"And at the hour when you caress our daughter,
Admiring the babble of speeches,
How are you hinting at her father?
Her father is separated from her.
When the little one catches your eye, -
Kissing her, remember
About the one who prays to you for happiness,
Who found heaven in your love.
And if there is a resemblance in it
With a father abandoned by you
Your heart suddenly flutters
And the trembling of the heart will be mine".
The upbringing of the world's first programmer fell entirely on the fragile shoulders of her mother - the lovely Anna Isabelle (Anabella) Milbank, Lady Byron, "an extraordinary woman, poetess, mathematician, philosopher," as Byron described her back in 1813, who gave her the nickname "Queen of Parallelograms" . However, not immediately: the mother of the newborn, having given the child to her parents, went on a health cruise. She returned already when the child could be brought up. Different biographies make various claims as to whether Ada lived with her mother: some claim that her mother took first place in her life, even in marriage; according to other sources, she never knew either parent. The poet's wife did not fall into melancholy and despondency, but, despising secular gossip, raised her daughter and gave her the opportunity to receive the most advanced education at that time. The girl early became interested in music and mathematics, which could not but please Lady Byron. For all the fears of her world lurked in other areas - in the field of literature and poetry. Lady Byron desperately tried to protect her daughter from the fatal (this is not a metaphor!) influence of the "runaway" father. From any of his influences, up to the fact that all the books of her father were seized from the family library, and at the same time all poetry! In addition, after the divorce, her mother and mother's parents never called her Augusta, but only Ada.
And then a terrible thing happened: Ada Augusta fell ill with measles. At the beginning of the 19th century, they still did not know how to treat this serious illness, the girl became disabled and spent three whole years in bed. However, this time was not wasted. The inflexible Lady Byron hired the best teachers in London, and the girl continued her education at home.
The period of illness brought into Ada Byron's social circle the excellent Scottish mathematician, logician and mystic Augustus de Morgan, her mother's former teacher, and his wife, the famous Mary Somerville, who, for outstanding achievements in mathematics and translated works with comments (in particular, from the French "Treatise on Celestial Mechanics" mathematician and astronomer Pierre-Simon Laplace) was called "the queen of science in the 19th century". De Morgan, a great specialist in esoteric numerology, charmed the impressionable girl, thirsting for a miracle, with the magic of numbers, turned the strict logic of mathematics into magic, which determined the future life of the future Countess Lovelace. The teacher had such a high opinion of the abilities of his student that he compared her with the Italian mathematician Maria Agnesi. Mary, on the other hand, became a role model for her pupil ... Lady Byron did not succeed in eradicating poetry from her daughter's heart. She wrote poetry obsessively - with the help of mathematics.
Byron died at the age of 36 (in 1824), in Greece, for which he fought (Greek War of Independence, Greek Revolution - the armed struggle of the Greek people for independence from the Ottoman Empire, 1821-1832), giving her all of himself - his strength, talent and resources. His remains were transported to England - in the family crypt in the church of Hunkell-Thorcard, near Newstead Abbey. Ada at that time was only 9 years old, and she had just begun to recover, getting out of bed.
Ada met her mother's expectations in the most unexpected way. At the beginning of 1828, she suddenly developed a tendency to spend all her free time behind the closed doors of her room. Lady Byron quite naturally suspected her daughter of writing poetry and was seriously frightened. "The shadow of the father" clearly and terribly loomed on the family horizon. For several difficult evenings, Anna Isabelle desperately overcame her maternal instinct in favor of "breadth of views", and then her patience snapped, and she demanded an account from her daughter. A twelve-year-old girl pulled out a pile of papers from under the bed and, blushing furiously with embarrassment, showed Lady Byron ... professionally made drawings of an aircraft of her own design. At the age of 12, Ada dreamed not of a fairy-tale prince, but of mechanical wings that could tear her off the ground and lift her into the sky. And not just dreaming, but composing wings! Ada inherited her mother's love for mathematics and many of her father's traits, including a character close in emotional disposition ... They say that since then, not only "Myths of Ancient Greece", but also the works of Blaise Pascal, Isaac Newton, brothers Bernoulli and other mathematicians. However, there is evidence that Ada secretly wrote poetry, ashamed of this as some kind of hereditary plague. She realized her poetic inclinations much later. At thirty, Ada wrote to her mother: If you cannot give me poetry, will you then give me the science of poetry?"
And now Ada turned 17. She is waiting for the first publication ... Ada Byron made a splash. The gentlemen of the capital besieged the beautiful young lady in droves, instantly losing their orthodox British stiffness. To understand the origins of the Ada phenomenon, it is necessary to understand what the high society of Great Britain was like at the beginning of the distant 19th century. The defeated Bonaparte was still languishing on the island of St. Helena, while Europe had already healed its war wounds and rushed "into science." Discussions of "fish and reptiles of the sea", "movements celestial spheres and luminaries" and "belts of the structure of the Earth", and then, in the 20-30s, became an obligatory norm, an indicator of advanced European secularism. Of course, all this gentlemanly scholarship strongly smacked of amateurism. Even the word "scientist" was not yet invented (the term "scientist" was introduced into use only in 1836). However, it must be admitted that high society was fully prepared for the appearance of a female mathematician in its midst. yearned to adore such a woman!
And Ada did not disappoint them! Slender, exquisitely pale (3 years of imprisonment affected), smart, superbly educated, and besides, by nature, to a large extent - the daughter of that same Byron, lord and poet! She danced beautifully, played several instruments, dressed beautifully, tastefully, and knew several languages. But those were far from her only virtues. The enthusiasm sown by De Morgan in his time has given abundant sprouts. With a charming smile, she could with her questions make any most imperturbable gentleman blush, turn pale and stutter, and, if rumors are to be believed, she was known with evil spirits, otherwise where did such intelligence and logic baffle London dandies who had Oxford or Cambridge behind them? Beauty, Mathematics and Mysticism - this is the real portrait of Ada Augusta Byron. Of course, it was not without jealous rumors - one of the ladies launched "correct information" that she supposedly enjoys such a resounding success for a reason - the devil himself could not have done here! How did Ada Byron react to these insinuations? No way. She only smiled brighter, which, in turn, led to a paradoxical result: society fell in love with her even more. However, this is easy to explain - mysticism in its many manifestations was revered in those days for the same science as all the others. In the end, what is more mysterious - the pride of Lucifer, the fallen angel of Light, or the theory of numbers? Where are the more secrets? Or is the measure of their mystery equally great? ... The girl immediately received her first life title: the high society of London proclaimed her the Diadem of the circle.
At one of these social events (very characteristic of the era - it was a technological exhibition), young Ada Byron was introduced to an outstanding mathematician, professor of mathematics at Cambridge University, member of the Royal Scientific Society Charles Babbage - a man whose fate is inextricably intertwined with the fate of our heroine. The name of Charles Babbage was first heard by young Miss Byron at the dinner table from Mary Somerville. A few weeks later, on June 5, 1833, they saw each other for the first time. However, in order to get closer to understanding the origins of Charles Babbage's mathematics, it is necessary to return to the character already mentioned above - to Napoleon I Bonaparte.
So, France, 1790. The genius of the great emperor reforms continental Europe. No, this is not about left-hand traffic. Recall another, much more revolutionary innovation: the metric system of measures and weights. The emperor summoned the head of the Census Bureau, Baron de Prony, and gave him a task. It was necessary to prepare new, progressive tables of logarithms in the shortest possible time. The baron was not strong in mathematics, but he understood the theory of production very well. In particular, what we, thanks to school social science, call the division of labor. And, obeying the imperial order, de Prony developed the technology. He divided the entire calculation process into three stages: the first - the strongest mathematicians led by Adrien Legendre and Lazar Carnot developed mathematical software, the second - the "middle link" organized the calculation process and made sure that it did not fail, the third - dozens of the most common ordinary counters carried out direct calculations. Does this distribution remind you of anything? Mathematical (software) - organization of calculations - calculation (data processing). Do I need to mention that "human calculators" in this system were called "computers" (from the English " compute"-"calculate")?
De Prony was out of luck. The tables developed by his Bureau were never published because of the war. However, four decades later, de Prony's work ended up on Babbage's desk. The Englishman, having studied the French method of dividing mathematical calculations, was completely delighted. Then he had an idea: what if "human calculators", this "unreliable human material", are replaced by more advanced mechanical devices? After all, the calculations of "computers" are not at all complicated, representing the addition and subtraction of small numbers. There are just too many of them. The project started in 1822, it was called the Difference Engine and was supposed to be (in our modern terminology) a huge, extremely complex adding machine. However, despite the government funding that was not bad at that time, it successfully died out in 1834, its documentation settled in warehouses and shelves of scientific classrooms. There were many reasons for this; the main ones are the negligence of chief engineer Joseph Clement and the loss of interest in the project of Babbage himself. The fact is that already in 1833 the mathematician conceived an even more revolutionary step: to make the machine work under the control of an external program, and not to replace one process with a mechanical device. This unit called the Analytical Engine was developed by Charles Babbage on paper in 1834. This was the very first fully functional computer in the world. It provided for a central processor (in Babbage's terminology - "mill"), input of programs ("instructions") using perforated cards (such a term did not exist then, but the prototype of the modern card was well known and was used since 1801 in a loom Jacquard), a memory block ("barn") for 1000 registers, which stored the initial data and intermediate results, a printing device, the role of which was played by a printing press. The internal representation of numbers was decimal. The numbers could be transferred to the "mill", processed there and returned to one or another register of the "barn". The assembly, which consisted of thousands of mechanical gears, was supposed to be powered by the only force known at that time - steam. By the way, in 1991, British scientists built a mechanical computer based on Babbage's drawings (located in the Kensington Science Museum). One division or multiplication operation takes her 2-3 minutes. The speed of modern computers is 10 to the 8th power of operations per second.
However, we will not focus on the details. Detailed description Babbage's machines are a topic for another discussion. Much more important for us is that in 1833 Babbage met the young Ada Augusta Byron. At the technology exhibition, Babbage publicly announced his new development for the first time. Naturally, his speech was oversaturated with mathematical terms and logical calculations, which were difficult for an unprepared London dandy to understand. Ada understood. De Morgan, not without pride in his student, describes Ada's first meeting with the great computer: " While some of the guests looked in amazement at this amazing device with the eyes of savages who saw the mirror for the first time, Miss Byron, still quite young, was able to understand the operation of the machine and appreciated the great merit of the invention."Moreover, she bombarded Charles with questions on the merits of the problem. Babbage was completely fascinated by the girl's talents, and it finally became clear to Ada what exactly she was looking for. The young lady's obsession with mathematics found expression. And what! mathematicians to force a machine to help a person solve mathematical problems! Is it only mathematical? Yes, only. However, are there many areas in the life of enlightened mankind in which mathematical problems do not appear? ...
Babbage, who was familiar with Anabella Byron, supported the girl's passion for mathematics, constantly followed Ada's scientific studies, selected and sent her articles and books, primarily on mathematical issues. Ada plunged headlong into Babbage's project. Mathematics spread its wings and soared. The dialogue between Babbage and Ada Augusta, in personal meetings and lively correspondence, continued for many years. Charles Babbage sincerely fell in love with this girl, he found in her the main thing that he appreciated in people - sharpness of mind. Perhaps the fact that Ada was almost the same age as his daughter who died early also played a role. All this led to a warm and sincere attitude towards Ada.
It cannot be said that Ada Augusta's vital interests were exclusively focused on mathematics and computing. So, in July 1835, at the age of 20, Ada Augusta married her longtime lover William, the eighth Lord King. Really old - Lord King courted his betrothed for 10 years. Sir William, who was 29 years old at the time, was a calm, balanced and affable man. He approved of his wife's scientific studies and even encouraged her in them.
The autocharacterization given by Ada in one of the letters to Babbage is very expressive: " My brain is more than just a mortal substance; I hope time will tell (unless my breathing and stuff progresses too fast towards death). I swear to the devil that in less than ten years I will suck out some of the vital blood from the mysteries of the universe, and in a way that ordinary mortal minds and lips could not do. No one knows what terrifying energy and strength lie untapped in my little flexible being. I said "terrifying" because you can imagine what that means in some circumstances. Count L. sometimes says: "What kind of general could you be." Imagine me over time in public and political concerns (I have always dreamed of having world power, power and glory - this dream will never come true ...). It is good for the universe that my aspirations and ambitions are forever connected with the spiritual world and that I am not going to deal with sabers, poisons and intrigues.".
It is unlikely that Count William felt like the true head of the family. Despite the high-profile title, the mother-in-law, Lady Byron, ruled in the house, once again proving her unbending character. At first, the count was still trying to change something, to insist on something, but then he shrugged his shoulders in a British way, decided that health was more expensive, and devoted himself entirely to managing the fief. Countess Ada worked with children, was fond of music and continued her dialogue with Babbage. The Lovelaces led a secular lifestyle, regularly hosting receptions and evenings at their London home and country estate, Okhat Park. Ada's marriage did not alienate her from Babbage; their relationship became even more cordial.
The Lovelaces had a son on May 12, 1836, named Byron, on September 22, 1837, a daughter, Annabella (Lady Ann Bluen), and on July 2, 1839, a son, Ralph Gordon. Naturally, this took Ada away from mathematics for a while. At the same time, the Lord and Lady Kings were granted an earldom, and with it the titles of earls. So our heroine got her full name - Ada Augusta Byron-King, Countess of Lovelace. Shortly after the birth of her third child, she turns to Babbage with a request to find her a mathematics teacher. At the same time, she writes that she has the strength to go as far in achieving her goals as she wishes. Babbage, in a letter dated November 29, 1839, replied to Lovelace: “I think that your mathematical abilities are so obvious that they do not need to be tested. I have made inquiries, but at the present time I have not been able to find a person whom I could recommend to you as a teacher. I will keep searching".
Ada was small in stature, and Babbage, when referring to her, often called her a fairy. The editor of The Examinator once described her as follows: " She was amazing, and her genius (and she had a genius) was not poetic, but mathematical and metaphysical, her mind was in constant motion, which was combined with great demands. Along with such masculine qualities as firmness and determination, Lady Lovelace was characterized by delicacy and refinement of the most refined character. Her mannerisms, tastes, education... were feminine in the best sense of the word, and a superficial observer could never have guessed the power and knowledge that lay hidden under the female attractiveness. As much as she disliked frivolity and platitudes, so much did she enjoy enjoying real intellectual society."
From the beginning of 1841, Lovelace began to study Babbage's machines in earnest. In one of his letters to Babbage, Ada writes: " You must tell me the basic information about your machine. I have a good reason for wanting this.". In a letter dated January 12, 1841, she sets out her plans: " …Some time in the future (maybe within 3 or 4, and maybe even many years) my head can serve you for your goals and plans… It is on this issue that I want to have a serious talk with you". This proposal was gratefully accepted by Babbage. Since that time, their cooperation has not been interrupted and has given brilliant results. However, clouds soon began to gather over Babbage. At home, his incomprehensible unit went out of fashion, and the inventor was forced to go on lectures to the continent.
In October 1842, the eminent Italian mathematician and engineer Luigi Federigo Menabrea, lecturer in ballistics at the Turin Artillery Academy (later a general in Garibaldi's army and then Prime Minister of Italy), published in the Public Library of Geneva "An Outline of the Analytical Engine Invented by Charles Babbage", based on Charles Babbage's seminar on his Analytical Engine. The book was written in French, and Babbage turned to Ada Augusta with a request to translate it into the language of foggy Albion. Countess Lovelace, reasonably judging that her mother was enough to take care of her son-in-law, grandchildren and with a large staff of domestic servants, happily returned to the world of mathematics, deciding to devote herself entirely to her beloved science, working on Babbage's machine and its wide popularization. Thus, marriage not only did not prevent Ada from enthusiastically surrendering to what she considered her calling, but even facilitated her work: she had an uninterrupted source of funding in the form of the family treasury of the Earls of Lovelace.
For nine months, the countess worked on the text of the book, supplementing it along the way, on the advice of Babbage, with her own comments and remarks. The translation of Menabrea's article was 20 pages long, while Ada Lovelace's notes were two and a half times longer, 50 pages. This comparison alone shows that Ada Lovelace is by no means limited to the role of a simple commentator. At the same time, Menabrea's article dealt more with the technical side of the matter, while Lovelace's notes were more mathematical. After receiving the first proofs on July 4, 1843, she writes to Babbage: " I want to introduce an example in one of the notes: the calculation of Bernoulli numbers as an example of the calculation of an indefinite function by a machine without first solving it using the head and hands of a person. Send me the necessary data and formulas. Am I a devil or an angel? I work like the devil for you my dear Babbage: I sift the Bernoulli numbers for you"At her request, Babbage sent all the necessary information and, wanting to save Ada from difficulties, he himself compiled an algorithm for finding these numbers. But he made a very gross mistake in compiling the algorithm, and Ada immediately discovered this. She independently wrote a program for calculating Bernoulli numbers This program, recognized as the first program specifically implemented to be played on a computer, is of exceptional interest, since the magnitude, complexity and mathematical formulation of this problem cannot be compared with elementary examples.This example allowed Lovelace to fully demonstrate the methodology of programming on the Analytical machine and the advantages that the latter gives with a suitable method of calculation.On July 6, 1843, the work was transferred to the printing house.And a miracle happened - these comments and remarks made it famous in the world of high science, and at the same time introduced it into history.
Anticipating the "stages" of computer programming, Ada Lovelace, like modern mathematicians, begins with a problem statement, then chooses a calculation method convenient for programming, and only then proceeds to compiling a program. This program delighted Babbage, he spared no words of praise for its author, and they were well deserved. Support and kind words strengthened Ada's confidence and gave her strength to work. Successes were given to her with great effort and not without damage to health, which she repeatedly complains about in her letters to Babbage. Lovelace wanted this and subsequent works, which she dreamed of, could somehow be associated with her name. However, at that time it was considered indecent for a woman to publish her works under her full name, and Ada decides to put only her initials on the title - AAL (Augusta Ada Lovelace). Therefore, her works, like the work of many other women scientists, were forgotten for a long time.
Lovelace's comments laid the foundation for modern programming, based on the ideas and principles that she expressed. They included three of the world's first computational programs, compiled by her for Babbage's machine. The simplest of them, and the most detailed one, is a program for solving a system of two linear algebraic equations in two unknowns. When analyzing this program, the concept of working cells (working variables) was first introduced and the idea of sequentially changing their content was used. From this idea, there is one step left to the assignment operator, one of the fundamental operations of all programming languages, including machine languages. The second program was compiled to calculate the values of the trigonometric function with repeated repetition of a given sequence of computational operations; for this procedure, Lovelace introduced the concept of a loop, one of the fundamental constructs of structured programming: A cycle of operations is any group of operations that is repeated more than once.". The organization of cycles in the program significantly reduces its volume. Without such a reduction, the practical use of the Analytical Engine would be unrealistic, since it worked with punched cards, and a huge number of them would be required for each problem being solved. In the third program, designed to calculate numbers Bernoulli, recurrent nested loops have already been used.In her comments, Lovelace also made an excellent guess that computational operations can be performed not only with numbers, but also with other objects, without which computers would remain nothing more than powerful, fast calculators.
Charles Babbage found in Ada the ultimate propagandist for his invention. Whether she spoke of the Analytical Engine, that "the possibilities of its mechanisms are so vast that it will become the right hand of any specialist in abstract algebra," or of the machine's ability to "weave algebraic ideas in the same way that Jaccard's loom weaves flowers and leaves," Ada knew how find clear and precise words. Already at that time, Ada Lovelace was fully aware of the colossal "broadness of the spectrum" of the possibilities of a universal computer. At the same time, she was very clear about the limits of these possibilities: " It is advisable to warn against exaggerating the capabilities of the Analytical Engine. The Analytical Engine does not claim to create anything truly new. The machine can do everything that we know how to prescribe to it. She can follow analysis; but it cannot foresee any analytic dependencies or truths. The function of the machine is to help us get what we are already familiar with.". She saw in the car what the inventor himself was afraid to think about: " The essence and purpose of the machine will change depending on what information we put into it. The machine will be able to write music, draw pictures and show science in ways that we have never seen anywhere else.".
By the way, it was no coincidence that music was Ada's second passion, after mathematics. She believed that the language of music, like the language of mathematics, brings her into contact with the Higher Forces - "another language for unearthly conversations."
Explaining that Babbage's machine works not only with numbers, but also with abstract relationships between concepts, Ada refers to the "fundamental relationship between sounds in the science of harmony and musical composition" that will make possible "the scientific composition of musical works of any complexity and length" . Ada Augusta foresaw the purpose of the computer even before it was created. What has entered our lives today - a multifunctional tool for solving a huge number of applied problems, Ada saw in the distant 40s. 19th century! But the countess took the next step, determining the promising capabilities of the machine: " Development and batch processing of any functions... A machine is a mechanism for expressing any indefinite function of any degree of generality and complexity.".
Despite the unheard-of aplomb of the girl (“I think that I have a unique combination of qualities that doom me, like no one else, to the discovery of a hidden reality in nature ...”, “It is good for the Universe that my aspirations and ambition are forever connected with the spiritual world, and that I am not going to deal with sabers, poison and intrigues instead of X, Y and Z"), who, however, having been deceived in her hopes regarding the color of British science, subsequently became fascinated with mesmerism, Babbage confessed to sincere friendly feelings for his "mistress of numbers" , as evidenced by a small note announcing his arrival, dated September 9, 1843:
"My dear Lady Lovelace!
Desperate to wait for my free time, I decided to drop everything and go to Ashley, taking with me enough papers to forget about this world, all its worries and, if possible, its countless charlatans - in short, everything except the Lady of Numbers.
Do you currently live in Ashley? Will my visit distract you from your affairs? I will come on Wednesday, or Thursday, or any other day, if it is more convenient for you. Should I turn off at Taunton or Bridgewater? Is Arbogast [author of the book "On the Calculus of Derivatives"] with you? I wanted to bring back some books on this monstrous problem, the three-body problem, which is almost as obscure as the famous De Tribus Impostoribus. So if you have Arbogast, I will bring something else.
With God, my dear and venerable interpreter.
Yours like never before
C. Babbage".
Since 1844, Ada Lovelace has become more and more interested in playing at the races, especially since she herself rode beautifully and loved horses. Both Babbage and William Lovelace played at the races, and Babbage, who was interested in applied problems of probability theory, considered the game at the races from these positions and was looking for the optimal game system. In addition, in this way they wanted to get the missing amount for the construction of Babbage's analytical engine. Alas, only their organizers manage to get rich on gambling. "System" did not live up to expectations, having lost a rather impressive amount, Babbage and Earl Lovelace refused to participate in the improvement of the "system". But Lady Ada, gambling and stubborn, became a gambling addict, mired in debt and even pawning the family jewels. London society was frightened by the onslaught with which this woman begged for money under her protégé. Fired up, she turned to everyone she knew for help, including her great contemporaries: Michael Faraday, David Brewster, Charles Wheatstone, Charles Dickens (who seriously believed that after her visits a trail of evil spirits remained in the house) ... alas, mostly getting a refusal . Moreover, Lady Hell became close to a certain John Cross, who subsequently blackmailed her. She spent almost all of her funds, and by 1848 derailed her husband's fortune. Then her mother had to pay off these debts, and at the same time buy incriminating letters from the notorious John Cross ...
Perhaps these persecutions, threats, failures in the work on creating a win-win system undermined the health of this amazing woman. In the early 50s, Ada Lovelace showed the first signs of illness. In November 1850 she writes to Babbage: " My health ... is so bad that I want to accept your offer and appear on arrival in London to your medical friends". Despite the measures taken, the disease progressed and was accompanied by severe torment. Ironically, it was Charles Dickens, the singer of the fight against the dominance of machines, who yielded to the last will of Lady Lovelace and came to read several pages of "David Copperfield" at her head. November 27, 1852 Ada Lovelace died from bloodletting while trying to treat uterine cancer, before reaching the age of 37. Together with her outstanding intellect, her father passed on to her this terrible heredity - an early death - the poet died at the same age and also from bloodletting ... According to the will, she was buried in the family crypt Byron in Nottinghamshire next to the grave of a father whom she had never seen in her life - a father from whom our heroine, despite all her mother's tricks, inherited the understanding: to live is to burn! According to contemporaries, since that time the graves of two geniuses - father and daughter - have become a place of pilgrimage, moreover, more often they came to bow not to the great poet, but to an amazing woman who managed to look into the future.
In honor of Ada Lovelace, two small cities in America are named - in the states of Alabama and Oklahoma. There is also a college named after her in Oklahoma.
In memory of Ada Lovelace, the language Ada is named. By the late 1970s, research by the US Department of Defense revealed that there was no high-level programming language that would support all the major steps in software development. The use of different programming languages in different applications led to incompatibility of the developed programs, duplication of developments and other undesirable phenomena, including an increase in the cost of software, many times higher than the cost of the computer itself. The way out of the crisis was seen in the development of a unified programming language, its support environment and application methodology. All three components of this project were developed very carefully with the involvement of the most qualified specialists from different countries. In 1975, the US Department of Defense decided to start developing a universal programming language for the US armed forces, and later for the entire NATO. In May 1979, the winner of the language design competition was the Ada language, named after Ada Augusta Lovelace and proposed by a group led by the Frenchman Jean Ishbia. The minister read the historical excursus prepared by the secretaries and without hesitation approved both the project itself and the proposed name for the future language - "Ada". On December 10, 1980, the language standard was approved. In the USSR, in the 1980s, a working group on the language of Ada was organized under the State Committee for Science and Technology. The group was engaged in the study of all open (and, according to rumors, obtained by secret intelligence) data on the language of Ada and investigated the possibility and expediency of developing and using Ada in the USSR. The activities of this group led by the end of the 80s to the development of Ada compilers for almost all computers used in the USSR. Several books on the language of Ada have been published in Russian. At Moscow State University, work was carried out to create their own packages for testing ad-translators for compliance with standards. In Leningrad State University, to create an Ada system, the Pallada system, which was previously developed for the implementation of Algol-68, was used, which was transferred to Ada. The system contains an integrated development environment, a compiler, a text editor, a debugger, libraries, a version control system, and a command interpreter. After the collapse of the USSR, work on the distribution of Ada was practically interrupted. True, three software development programs have been adopted on Ada (in the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Ministry of Education and Science), but their development is slow and uncoordinated. As a result, the Ada language is little known in Russia, most modern Russian programmers consider it a "dead language" and know nothing about it. Ada is used in Russia and the CIS by individual enthusiasts. In addition, Ada has, albeit very limited, application in the field of higher education: special courses on Ada are taught at Moscow State University and Kharkov University.
Sample program "Hello, world!" on ADA:
with Ada.Text_IO ; procedure Hello is use Ada.Text_IO ; begin Put_Line("Hello, world!" ); end Hello ;
However, the language is used for industrial software development. There are several projects developed on Ada and operating in Russia, among them a set of standard flight, navigation and communication equipment for the Russian Beriev Be-200 amphibious aircraft. The development was carried out by the Research Institute of Aviation Equipment in Zhukovsky, together with the American company Allied Signal, Florida, USA. The development complex of hell-systems of the DDC-I company on the Intel 80486 platform was used.
Russian programmers-wits did not fail to beat the ambiguity of such a name (in the Russian sound, of course) and, in contrast to the language of "Ada", created their own algorithmic language of "Paradise". The attack of the Soviet international journalist Melor Sturua, an ardent anti-Americanist, is also widely known: " The language of the Pentagon is the enemy of the world. The language of "Hell" is the voice of thermonuclear hell... In the language of "Hell" a curse is heard on the human race". Well, this is" Marx - Engels - Lenin - October Revolution "(this is how the name Melor is deciphered), as they say, went too far. Today, not only the Pentagon, but not a single person in the civilized world can do without a computer and its software system. And what Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace worked so selflessly on is an unconditional gift to all mankind.And that is why modern computer scientists celebrate July 19, when Ada wrote the first program, and December 10, when Ada Augusta Byron was born, as unofficial days of the programmer.
In 1997, Lynn Hershman-Leeson's science fiction film "Conceiving Ada" was released, in which the main character, Emmy, seeks to manipulate time in the past in order to meet Augusta Ada King, played by Tilda Swinton. . In an effort to achieve her goal, Emmy even experiments with her own DNA, despite the danger of possible side effects… Lynn Hershman Leeson: " At one time, the "mother of all programmers" Ada Byron-King, Countess of Lovelace, created the first computer language and predicted its use in music, poetry and art. Ada was born in Victorian era and had to lead a double life. Therefore, the film is built on the principle of a double helix, forming mysterious relationships between the story of Ada and the story of how DNA strands make genetic memory pass through four generations. Each episode is built and filmed using an image of a DNA molecule as a model. I found it extremely important to apply the technology discovered by Ada to the work, as it provides another dimension to the story about her. Virtual reality and digital sound as if allowed her to gain freedom of movement in time and thus gave her appearance visibility and tangibility". Unfortunately, this wonderful film has not been translated into Russian.
A huge number of legends are associated with the image of Ada Augusta. Some of them are certainly true; part, as usual, is doubtful.
So what if the countess came to mathematics through esotericism? So what if Lady Ada's autographs are oversaturated with the occult and mysticism? Is that a reason to hang straw voodoo dolls around your monitor and have séances on your Windows desktop?
So what if the machine that Ada loved so much was never built during her short life? In the 30s and 40s. In the twentieth century, devices similar to the Analytical Engine were finally embodied in metal, briefly anticipating the appearance of electronic computers.
So what if the end of Ada Augusta's short life is overshadowed by ridiculous attempts to create a system for calculating safe bets in gambling? Wasn't it bold? The search for the squaring of the circle is the lot of the restless and daring, to whom, as you know, we sing glory.
We have the main! Countess Lovelace's notes to Louis Menebrea's book are only 52 pages long. By and large, this is all that Ada Lovelace left for history. Other pundits work for decades and leave behind hundreds of works that are forgotten before the grave mound settles over the final resting place of their creators. Ada Lovelace, the great daughter of the great Byron, only 52 pages were enough to go down in history. Often 52 pages can turn the world around beyond recognition. Think about these words when you work with your computer, communicate on the Web, or simply shift the "kerchief".
There can't be many opinions here:
smart as a daughter, father is great!
Isn't that why it arose
her not at all female genius,
what incomprehensible comprehended?
Why does the Countess need a "subroutine"
and "index register" why?
Her destiny is perfume cream
and a monogram on the handkerchief,
and it wouldn't be a big problem.
But it's nice how when such
there are countesses in our world!
We sing honor to them today,
and human praise
we can relate to the sciences ...
© Copyright: Philosophical Saxaul, 2010 Publication Certificate No. 110121001437
According to materials:
Wikipedia
habrahabr.ru
chernykh.net
schools.keldysh.ru
Eleonora Mandalyan "Charles Babbage's Digital Computer"
Fact 1. Under the hood of the most critical programs you use on a daily basis (Mac OS X or Facebook) there is an awful lot of hacks and crutches that hardly get along with each other. It's like taking apart a Boeing 747 and seeing that the fuel line is held up by a coat hanger and the landing gear is wrapped with duct tape.
The code of the programs is such that even if a site or program works great and looks great, behind the scenes everything that makes it work consists of errors, blunders and crutches. It barely works and sometimes it's not at all clear why.
Fact 2. 25% of the time in programming is spent thinking about what the user can do wrong.
It actually takes more or less percent of the time, but each time we really need to think about what the user can break here. Where will he click, what will he enter, and how can we understand what we are trying to do wrong. If we counted only on ourselves, the programs would have too many problems -
because we know how the program works, but the user does not.
Fact 3. A programmer is not a computer repair specialist
A programmer works with algorithms and design principles, not fixing computers. We can understand how a computer works and how code is executed. But this does not mean that we can repair iron. We don't know what problem Chrome is causing it to drop on your computer, or why your computer is overheating. Programmers program computers, they don't fix them.
Fact 4. Programming is thinking, not typing
For the most part, we program when we sleep, walk, look out the window, or do something else that allows us to relax and think. Relaxation is one of the important aspects of programming. You can't just sit down and write a thousand lines of code and paste them into a program. We need to sit, walk, think. Come up with a concept, fix its flaws, decide how it will work... Relaxation is the only way we can use to fix problems.
Fact 5. The countdown starts from zero
It is important. The counting starts from zero - your 1 is my 0, your 10 is my 9. All because of the need to do things efficiently, where even a small increase in efficiency can increase productivity at scale.
Fact 6. Programming is best done in a flow - in a state of mind when you are focused on the task and everything seems simple. This condition is also familiar to athletes and musicians.
Programmers like to work at night because it allows us to get in the flow, focus on one thing and not worry about being distracted. Everyone else is just sleeping. This is a time of the day when no one is around, no one calls and no one tries to talk to us. Great time to think and code.
Fact 7. Sometimes it's good to postpone the problem until morning
Sometimes it is really useful for programmers, having met a difficult task, to sleep “with it”. Many times I have encountered the fact that I could not solve something for hours, but after just 20 minutes of sleep (or any other dream), upon waking, the solution came by itself.
Fact 8. A "parent" can kill his "children" if their task is completed
Not the kind of phrase you'd like to hear from anyone. But for programmers, it does not sound so scary. Programs often have a hierarchical structure where a parent process controls its child processes running at a level below.
When the parent process no longer needs the child, it kills it - when the program has nothing else to do, its execution ends.
Fact 9 You are not impressed by how much we know about computers. We're not impressed by how little you know about them.
Seriously. Enough. We don't care how proud you are that you don't want to learn new things. It's understandable if you say "I don't know much about computers" or "I'm not interested in programming" - but when you brag about how much you don't know about it, it's just annoying.
Is it possible to play Tetris endlessly?
If the order of pieces in Tetris is determined by a perfect random number generator, then it cannot be played indefinitely. Sooner or later, a lot of successive series of S-figures and Z-figures will fall out, which cannot be placed without holes along the edges of the field, which will ultimately lead to a loss. In practical implementations of the game, as a rule, an algorithmic restriction is set for long series of identical pieces going in a row.
What programming language is named after a comedy series?
The Python programming language is not named after pythons, although icons for files with scripts written in it or logos for development environments often represent a snake's head. The author chose the name of the language because he was a fan of the sketch series Monty Python's Flying Circus.
How were computer games and programs downloaded from paper magazines and radio broadcasts?
In the 1980s and early 1990s, ZX Spectrum computers were very popular in Europe, and then in the countries of the former USSR. Their cheapness was due to the use of a conventional TV as a screen, and a household tape recorder as an external drive. Audio cassettes with recorded games and programs were inserted into it, the sound of which the computer interpreted as a sequence of bits and loaded into memory. Often the programs could be "downloaded" in special radio broadcasts by recording them on cassette tape. Also, small programs were published in magazines dedicated to the Spectrum in the form of source code - it had to be typed on the keyboard, run and again saved to audio media.
What feature did all the leading programmers of the first ENIAC computer have?
Before the invention of electronic computers, computers in the United States were called workers who manually calculated complex tasks on arithmometers - for example, calculated shooting tables. Most of the computers were women, and there were even more of them during the war. Many of them then successfully retrained as programmers. So, among the six leading programmers of ENIAC, the first general-purpose electronic computer, there was not a single man.
How do toy ducks help programmers debug code?
Some programmers use the duckling method to debug code. To do this, you need to put a toy duck on your desktop (or imagine it) and explain in detail line by line what the program should do. By resorting to this method, the programmer often encounters the desired error, which he did not notice when viewing the code in the development environment.
Which hyphen has been named the most expensive hyphen in history?
In 1962, the Americans launched the first spacecraft to study Venus, Mariner 1, which crashed a few minutes after launch. First, the antenna on the device failed, which received a signal from the guidance system from the Earth, after which the on-board computer took control. He, too, could not correct the deviation from the course, since the program loaded into it contained a single error - when transferring instructions to the code for punched cards in one of the equations, a dash was omitted above the letter, the absence of which radically changed the mathematical meaning of the equation. Journalists soon dubbed this line "the most expensive hyphen in history" (in terms of today, the cost of the lost device is $ 135,000,000).
Being a programmer is now fashionable. Films are made about successful programmers, books are written, in many countries developers are well paid. But, despite the fashion, the "techies" and innovations, there are many things that are known to programmers, and surprising to the rest. Quora members discussed these sociocultural and cognitive differences. Below are the most interesting comments from the discussion.
So, programmers, unlike ordinary people:
1. Realize that all burglary scenes in movies are bullshit. In general, a lot of cinematic stereotypes about programmers are nonsense, writes Bill Coleman: “We are not all fat, lazy geniuses in a row. In real life, we know how to communicate normally: our work depends on it. And don’t confuse us with electricians, many people don’t even have a soldering iron at home.”
The main "hacker" effect on the uninitiated has an open console. “Most people will think that I'm just staring at the screen and killing time while I'm actually working. But as soon as I open the console and start typing, they will be sure that I am trying to hack into the Pentagon or doing other magical things, ”writes one of the participants in the discussion.
2. While working, 25% of the time they puzzle over how to figure out what the user can “break” in the application being created. “It's relatively easy to write rules for what a program should do if everything works as it should. It is much more difficult to write rules for what the program should do if something goes wrong,” writes Kim Moser. At the same time, many users believe that programs should behave like their smarter and more knowledgeable friends.
3. They know that in fact, even the most important software that users use every day contains a terrifying amount of “crutches” that somehow miraculously come together into a working whole. “It’s like taking apart a Boeing and discovering that the brakes are taped on,” writes one of the discussion participants, Ben Cherry. Programmers know that a staggering amount of medical, financial, and personal information is stored in a system of negligible security.
5. They know: if a person had, for example, six fingers on each hand, the main number system in the world would be 12, and not 10, as it is now.
6. They can name a lot without a calculator more degrees deuces than an ordinary person. The abbreviation "k" in expressions like 100k is understood not as "x1000", but as "x1024". But if most ordinary people think that programming is mainly about mathematics, programmers know that logic comes first here.
7. Know how complicated simple things are on the Internet. After all, simple actions, like searching the Internet, are actually provided by many complex processes at different levels.
8. Think that most people are too vague when trying to explain what they want.
9. They get furious when ordinary people from among relatives, friends and acquaintances constantly ask to “fix the computer”.
10. It is quite possible for beauty to compare the code with a poem, although for the user it will look as terrible as an error message.