Ada Lovelace and Her Impact on the History of Computers

Ada Lovelace

and her Impact on the History of Computers​

By Paul Evans

Get your teacher to show this... ​

​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBbVbqRvqTM

Who was Ada Lovelace?

Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (10 December 1815 to 27 November 1852) was an English mathematician and writer. Her father was the famous English poet Lord Byron. Her mother was the mathematician, Anne Isabella Byron. Lord Byron left his wife and daughter when Ada was still very young to pursue his many love affairs and the writing of his poetry. Her mother, Anne Isabella, disgusted with Lord Byron's behaviour encouraged her daughter to be educated in Mathematics instead of poetry.

History of computers

Multiple Choice

Who was Ada Lovelace's father?

• The famous writer, Lord Shelley

• The famous mathematician Lord Byron

• The famous poet Lord Byron

• The famous inventor Charles Babbage

Why was Ada Lovelace important?

Byron separated from his wife a month after Ada was born and left England forever. Four months later, he commemorated the parting in a poem that begins, "Is thy face like thy mother's my fair child! ADA! sole daughter of my house and heart?". He died in Greece when Ada was eight. Her mother remained bitter and promoted Ada's interest in mathematics and logic in an effort to prevent her from developing her father's perceived insanity. Despite this, Ada remained interested in him, naming her two sons Byron and Gordon. Upon her death, she was buried next to him at her request​

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History of computers

Multiple Choice

Why did Anna Isabella Byron want Ada to learn Mathematics?

• She thought she'd get a better job that way

• She wanted her to do well on her NAPLAN

• She wanted her to be more like her father

• So she wouldn't turn out like her father.

Why was Ada Lovelace important?

Brilliant at Mathematics (like her mother), but also very articulate and a brilliant communicator (like her father), Ada was a huge success at gatherings and discussions from a very young age. At one of these, at the age of 17, she met Charles Babbage.

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​Charles Babbage had been working on inventing what is now regarded as the very first mechanical computers, called the Difference Engine. Ada was one of the first people to realise the potential of this machine.

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History of computers

Multiple Choice

What was the first machine that Charles Babbage built?

• The Difference Engine

• The Analytical Engine

• The Apple Macintosh

• The Jacquard Loom

Why was Ada Lovelace important?

At the age of 17, Ada started working with Charles Babbage, helping him firstly with the Difference Engine, but then working with him as he began inventing his next machine, the Analytical Engine, which people now regard as genuinely the first mechanical general-purpose computer.

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It was Ada who was the first to recognise that the machine had applications beyond pure calculation

History of computers

Multiple Choice

What invention did Ada Lovelace work upon with Charles Babbage that has now been regarded as the first "programmable computer"

• The IBM 360

• The Difference Engine

• The Analytical Engine

• The abacus

Why was the Analytical Engine important?

The design for the Analytical Engine included...

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• a central processing unit called "the mill"

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• and an expandable memory called "the store"

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• and of course, it could use what we would now regard as computer programs through the "punch cards"​

History of computers

Multiple Choice

How was the Analytical Engine programmable?

• Through the expandable memory (which Babbage called "the store")

• Through an SD card

• Through floppy disks

• Through punch cards

Why was Ada Lovelace important?

It was Ada who realised that the punch cards invented by Joseph Jacquard for his famous cloth weaving loom could be used for the Analytical Engine.

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Ada was therefore the first person to have published the first "algorithm" intended to be carried out by such a machine. As a result, she is often regarded as the first computer programmer.

History of computers

Fill in the Blanks

Why was Ada Lovelace important?

In 1843, Ada translated a book from an Italian mathematician about Babbage's machine, but in doing so also compiled a set of notes to on it that was three times as long and infinitely more important and insightful.

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In it, she corrected many of Babbage's errors but also wrote what we now can see was programming code to make it work on many many different possible tasks.​

History of computers

Multiple Choice

Why was Ada Lovelace regarded as the first "computer programmer"?

• Because she wrote "algorithms" for the Analytical Engine to perform different tasks depending on which punch card was used

• Because she wrote a translation of Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine idea into Italian

• Because she wrote a Scratch programming code to connect Makey Makey to the Analytical Engine

• Because she wrote poetry about codes for her father Lord Byron

Why was Ada Lovelace important?

Ada Lovelace was truly a visionary.

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She speculated that a machine like this could perform any practical function that human imagination could devise... such as composing music of ​"any complexity or extent"... basically anything and everything we use computers for today.

History of computers

Multiple Choice

What is the modern day computing equivalent of the punch cards that Ada Lovelace suggested be used in the Analyical Engine?

• SD cards

• Computer program

• Keyboard

• Mouse

Why was Ada Lovelace important?

Sadly, few other people recognised the brilliance of her work and the brilliance of the Analytical Engine.

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It remained unbuilt (although ​English museums and manufacturers have built it now according to the designs, and it clearly does work!)

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And sadly, Ada Lovelace died of ​cancer at the age of 36 in 1852.

History of computers

Multiple Choice

Was the Analytical Engine ever built during Babbage's lifetime>

• Yes

• No

Why was Ada Lovelace important?

A hundred years later, as Alan Turing and others were working out how to make modern computers work, the writings of Ada Lovelace and Babbage were rediscovered and published, and people realised how magically ahead of their time they were.

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Imagine if Ada had lived longer and if the Analytical Engine had been built in the 1800s. Would we now be 100 years ahead in terms of where we are now?​

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History of computers

Multiple Choice

How long after Ada Lovelace's death did it take for the world to build a machine equivalent to the programmable brilliance of the Analytical Engine?

• 10 years

• 50 years

• Almost 100 years

• Almost 200 years