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Grace Hopper - Pioneer of Computer Programming

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Brian0787
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14 Sep 2024, 10:53 pm

I just wanted to share a very neat video I found of a lecture that Grace Hopper gave at the NSA in 1982. She was known as the pioneer of computer programming. I remember hearing about her long ago but never seen a video of her. Her voice reminds me of an older congregation member from my church who passed away a couple years ago so listening to her made me smile. Very neat and the lecture seems like it could be relevant now.




Part 2:



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Hopper


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naturalplastic
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15 Sep 2024, 8:13 am

My dad was a Korean War Navy vet who became a civilian employee of the Navy. And he went to a lecture by that lady back in about the time of that vid (early 80s). He was quite taken with her as a speaker. Among the mind bending things she would do would be to take out a big coil of wire of x number feet long and say "this is what a nanosecond LOOKS like", and then bring out a bigger coil and say "this is what a millionth of a second LOOKS like". Meaning "the length of wire electricity travels in that amount of time" (that maybe on those two vids...havent watched them in their entirety yet).



Brian0787
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15 Sep 2024, 8:20 am

naturalplastic wrote:
My dad was a Korean War Navy vet who became a civilian employee of the Navy. And he went to a lecture by that lady back in about the time of that vid (early 80s). He was quite taken with her as a speaker. Among the mind bending things she would do would be to take out a big coil of wire of x number feet long and say "this is what a nanosecond LOOKS like", and then bring out a bigger coil and say "this is what a millionth of a second LOOKS like". Meaning "the length of wire electricity travels in that amount of time" (that maybe on those two vids...havent watched them in their entirety yet).


That's awesome he actually got to see her! That's also very neat your dad was a Korean War Navy vet! She actually takes out a coil of wire in the lecture video and says "this is what a nanosecond looks like" so that's awesome he remembers her doing the same thing! Very intriguing and intelligent woman. I remember reading about her in a high school Calculus textbook that had a little sidebar about her. I just happened to come across the videos last night and was glad I came across them :)


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"In this galaxy, there’s a mathematical probability of three million Earth-type planets. And in all the universe, three million million galaxies like this. And in all of that, and perhaps more...only one of each of us. Don’t destroy the one named Kirk." - Dr. Leonard McCoy, "Balance of Terror", Star Trek: The Original Series.


pcgoblin
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27 Sep 2024, 3:23 pm

Grace Hopper is awesome. I was going to say a computer goddess, but... Heck. She was a computer goddess. So was Ada Lovelace.
I know of more computer goddesses, but my synapses are not allowing me to recall them. Sometimes I am so disappointed with my brain.

Thanks for the videos!



Brian0787
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12 Oct 2024, 8:02 am

pcgoblin wrote:
Grace Hopper is awesome. I was going to say a computer goddess, but... Heck. She was a computer goddess. So was Ada Lovelace.
I know of more computer goddesses, but my synapses are not allowing me to recall them. Sometimes I am so disappointed with my brain.

Thanks for the videos!


Absolutely :) I heard of Ada Lovelace too! Both awesome pioneers in computers!


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"In this galaxy, there’s a mathematical probability of three million Earth-type planets. And in all the universe, three million million galaxies like this. And in all of that, and perhaps more...only one of each of us. Don’t destroy the one named Kirk." - Dr. Leonard McCoy, "Balance of Terror", Star Trek: The Original Series.