Grace Hopper and the Invention of the Information Age
2010; Volume: 41; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
2573-7104
Autores Tópico(s)History of Computing Technologies
ResumoGrace Hopper and Invention of Information Age Kurt W. Beyer The MIT Press, 389 pp. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Kurt Beyer demands our attention when he writes that Grace Hopper unquestionably most numerically popular computer pioneer on web (p. 1). Known as Amazing Grace, or Grandmother of Cobol, her life is chronicled in Grace Hopper and Invention of Information Age. A woman of relative privilege, Hopper grew up in prosperous northeastern household with accomplished parents who highly valued education. This affluence and parental expectation provided Hopper with support she needed to become first woman ever awarded doctorate in mathematics from Yale University. This achievement was instrumental in her landing an academic position at Vassar, but her life changed dramatically day Pearl Harbor was bombed and she enrolled in US Navy. Hopper graduated as midshipman in 1944, assuming new position that would take her into hidden world of computing and introduce her to Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator, or Mark I. The Mark I was 8 feet high, 3 feet wide, 51 feet long, weighed 9,455 pounds and had 530 miles of wiring (p. 37). Not long after this introduction to Mark I, Hopper was moved with her machine to Harvard, where this coupling would signal beginning of computer age. This unique combination of brilliant mathematician and machine would create revolution in way we problem solve, communicate with others, and conduct business. During wartime, Hopper was akin to Rosie Riveter; woman working in man's world showcasing her manual dexterity, intellect, and leadership abilities. Perseverant, obstinate, intelligent, and hard working, she was part of growing number of females engaged in industrial work force, but she did not labor in factory. Instead, she assumed position in new discipline that was being defined and developed during and after war. Her affluence, high level of education, and mathematical abilities were in demand and provided her tools she needed to enter elite male fraternity (p. 5) of computer programmers. Hopper is best known for development of a portable, common business language that used basic English to communicate with machines. This program, known as COmmon Business-Oriented Language, or COBOL, propelled computer programming into the economic, political and social fabric of society (p. 318). Hopper's COBOL, and innovations that emerged as result of its creation, enticed Beyer to research her life. His experience as both naval officer and academic also influenced his decision to discover more about Hopper and other pioneering men and women who launched information age. Divided into 12 chapters, Beyer's book begins with review of Hopper's life, her accomplishments, and her place in relation to greater currents of social history (p. 21). The first chapter ends with Beyer's note that: ... The career of this influential college professor turned naval officer turned inventor turned business executive serves as ideal conduit for exploring rise of computer industry and invention of computer programming in what we refer to today as information age. (p. 22) The second chapter outlines Hopper's decision to leave career in academia at Vassar to join Navy, where she graduated from Midshipmen's School in summer of 1944. At that time, she was assigned to work with an Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator, Mark I. The machine and individuals charged with its development and use would initially assist war effort, but longer-lasting impact of this engineered hardware and manual programming needed to run it would metamorphose into computers we use today. In Chapter 3, Beyer describes origins of computer programming and term bug, now immortalized in ever-growing computer lexicon. …
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