December 9 – Happy Birthday, Grace Hopper

nPostednon December 9, 2015

nShenwas called by some “Amazing Grace.” n

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nAndnthat’s because she was so gosh-darned accomplished!

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nGracenBrewster Murray Hopper (born on this date in 1906, in New York City)nwas one of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark 1 computer,ninvented the first compiler for a computer programming language, andnhelped develop the idea of programming languages independent ofnparticular machines – which led to the development of COBOL. n

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nWhichnin turn led to another of her nicknames: Grandma COBOL.

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This is the semi-famous moth found
inside a computer.

nHoppernis even credited with popularizing the word “debugging” fornfixing computer programming glitches. The word “bugs” had beennused for a long time – even by Thomas Edison! – for the variousncauses of technical difficulties, and the word “debugging” hadnbeen used for removing causes of technical difficulties innaeronautics. But when working on early computers at Harvard, some ofnHopper’s associates discovered a moth that had stuck in the relaysnand was causing a problem, so she quipped that they were debuggingnthe computer. Since the word was already used in similar fields, itngrabbed hold right away.

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nButnGrace Hopper wasn’t just a computer scientist and pioneer. She wasnalso a United States Navy Rear Admiral. n

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Shenvolunteered for the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer EmergencynService) during World War II, and she graduated from the NavalnReserve Midshipmen’s School first in her class. She worked for thenmilitary as a computer programmer, starting as a lieutenant, juniorngrade. She turned down a full professorship at Vassar (a highlynrespected university) in order to continue with the Navy (really, thenNaval Reserve), and by the time she retired at age 60, she hadnreached the rank of Commander.

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She was recalled to activenduty in 1967. Then she was recalled again in 1972. Somewhere in therenshe was promoted to Captain. Finally, in 1983, Hopper was promoted tonCommodore, a rank that was renamed Rear Admiral.

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nWhennshe finally really retire, she was the oldest active-dutyncommissioned officer in the U.S. Navy, and she was aboard the oldestncommissioned ship in the U.S. Navy. n

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nSo…amazing!

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nApplause,napplause…

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Hoppernhad a long life and a very, very long career. She won many awards,nand everything from Navy ships and computers to parks, schools, andnbuildings have been named after her. Hopper was awarded 40 honoraryndegrees from universities worldwide, and a whole lot of awards andnscholarships and even a professorship are named in Grace Hopper’snhonor.

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nWordsnof wisdom…

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nI’venincluded a couple of cool quotes from Hopper on this page, but herenis one more:

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nThenmost important thing I’ve accomplished, other than building thencompiler, is training young people. They come to me, you know, andnsay, ‘Do you think we can do this?’ I say, “Try it.” And Inback ’em up. They need that. I keep track of them as they get oldernand I stir ’em up at intervals so they don’t forget to take chances.

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nAlso on this date:

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