IUBio

brain sizes: Einstein's and women's

Shadow Dancer insomniac at winterslight.org
Tue Jul 16 01:02:12 EST 2002


"John Knight" <johnknight at usa.com> wrote in message
news:QoOY8.65343$P%6.4405067 at news2.west.cox.net...
>
> "Shadow Dancer" <insomniac at winterslight.org> wrote in message
> news:agvmvd$obcj4$1 at ID-150265.news.dfncis.de...
>
> > > > > If Grace Murray Hopper really did invent the compiler, then her
> impact
> > > has
> > > > > been far beyond that of Marie Curie, and most Nobel Laureates in
> > > general.
> > > > > http://www.sdsc.edu/ScienceWomen/hopper.html
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > > She did. She also was the first to "debug" a computer:).
> > >
> > > Oh my!  It's unfortunate that they didn't have the Turing award back
> then.
> > >
> > > I don't think the people here realize that without compilers there
> > probably
> > > be no usenet, no web browsers, and no large information technology
> > industry.
> > > Her contribution was essential in the information age.
> > >
> >
> > Those of us who have been in the military - and heavily into information
> > technology - do realize her contribution very, very much.
> >
> > I notice John hasn't found a way to refute the fact that Grace Murray
> Hopper
> > has a lot to do with his ability to air his archaic views.
> >
> > The Shadow Dancer
> >
> >
>
> This is another feminazi myth that will be dispelled, forthwith.
>
> First of all, Hopper did not "invent" compilers--this is something that
ALL
> programmers did on the fly as they used machine language with early
> computers.  Second of all, feminazi sites also claim that she invented
> Cobol, and in 4 decades of programming in Cobol, I never even heard of
> Hopper.  Third of all, a search on the net for compiler patents  produces
a
> LOT of men who have compiler patents, but no Hopper.  Fourth of all, the
> feminazis who claim that Hopper "invented" the Mark I computer forget that
> she was an assistant to Howard Aiken, who DID *develop* the Mark I
computer.
>
> And lastly, it's absurd to claim that any civil servant, even if they did
> get a patent for something, invented anything.  The vast majority of R&D,
> development, inventions, and patent applications are filed by industry,
not
> government.  The role the affirmative action federal government ever
played
> in any inventions is grossly over-rated.
>
> Of the 32,300 compiler patents referenced on the net, only 150 refer to
> Grace Murray Hopper, and none of those sites provide a compiler patent
> number for Hopper.
>
> Could it be that the men with the patents for compilers DID develop them,
> while you feminazis are trying to steal their thunder, using Hopper as an
> excuse?
>
> This is almost as bad as dredging up the century old quarter of a patent
> Marie Curie got.
>
> John Knight

Found on a simple search for "inventor of cobol" on google:

To quote from  http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventors/hopper.htm:
"Well known for her work in the 1950s and 1960s at the Eckert-Mauchly
Computer Corporation, later part of Sperry Rand, ***Hopper was credited with
devising the first compiler (1952), a program that translates instructions
for a computer from English to machine language. She helped develop the
Flow-Matic programming language (1957) and the Common Business-Oriented
Language (COBOL; 1959-61) for the UNIVAC, the first commercial electronic
computer.*** She worked to attract industry and business interests to
computers and to bridge the gulf between management and programmers. Hopper
taught and lectured extensively throughout the 1960s. She retired from the
U.S. Naval Reserve only to be recalled to oversee the navy's program to
standardize its computer programs and languages. She was elevated to the
rank of captain by a special act of Congress in 1973 and to the rank of rear
admiral in 1983. Hopper retired from the navy in 1986 and served as a senior
consultant with Digital Equipment Corporation."
===
http://www.norfolk.navy.mil/chips/grace_hopper/file2.htm:
"Eighty-five-year-old Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper who dedicated her
life to the Navy passed away on 1 January 1992. As a pioneer Computer
Programmer and co-inventor of COBOL, she was known as the Grand Lady of
Software, Amazing Grace and Grandma COBOL. She'll be remembered for her now
famous sayings, one of which is "It's easier to ask forgiveness than it is
to get permission." "
===
http://www.intergov.org/web_university/classes/web_320.html:
"DEFINITION LIST

To create a definition list, follow these steps:

<DL>
<DT> Grace Hopper
<DD> Ms. Hopper was an admiral in the Navy and was the inventor of COBOL, a
well known programming language.
<DT> Ada Lovelace
<DD> Ms. Lovelace is known as the first computer programmer.
</DL>

The output would look like this:

Grace Hopper

Ms. Hopper was an admiral in the Navy and was the inventor of COBOL, a well
known programming language.

Ada Lovelace
Ms. Lovelace is known as the first computer programmer."
===
Ooh, here's a good one - a company with a *gasp* FEMALE CEO.
http://www.cio.com/archive/010100/hopper_content.html:
"The next day three more women arrived: Rear Admiral Grace Hopper and two of
her aides. Of course, I had heard about Grace Hopper, the inventor of Cobol
and discoverer of the infamous first bug in a computer (it was a moth).
Watching her in action and listening to her rousing motivational speech was
a real treat. She was 78 then and two years away from forced retirement. I
was 35 at the time and amazed by her extraordinary energy and presence. She
died in 1992 at 85."
===
>From the Obituary of Richard M. Bloch -
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/INST/oct2000/obits.html:
"Mr. Bloch invented the standard computer procedure for automatic-error
detection known as Parity Check, which is used in virtually all computers.
He holds the patent for the weighted-count checking system, which allows
digital computers to function. Mr. Bloch also taught programming to ***Grace
Hopper, inventor of COBOL***, an early computer language."
===

I guess I had fun exposing your ignorance yet again, John Knight.  Just
because *you* never heard of it, it doesn't exist, right?

NOT.

The Shadow Dancer





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