A short history of computer programming

Ada Lovelace, daughter of Anabella and Lord Byron (the poet), was the first recognised computer programmer. Anabella gave her love of mathematics to Ada, who after meeting Charles Babbage, translated and expanded a description of his analytical engine. Even though Babbage never completed construction of any of his machines, the work that he and Ada did earned her the title of the world's first computer programmer, see Ada Byron's notes on the analytical engine. The Ada programming language is named for her.

One early programmer known to have completed all the steps for unaided computation, including compiling and testing, is Wallace J. Eckert. This man's work predated the rise of computer languages, because he used the language of mathematics to solve astronomical problems. However, all the ingredients were there: he operated a computing laboratory for Columbia University with equipment provided by IBM, complete with a customer service division, and special purpose engineering consultants, in New York City, in the 1930s, using punch cards to hold the intermediate results of his calculations, and then formatting the punch cards to control the printout of the answers, just as in the work for the census decades earlier. He even had debugging techniques such as color coding, cross-footing, verifying and duplicating. One difference between Eckert and today's programmers is that the example of his work influenced the Manhattan project. His work was recognized by astronomers from Yale University Observatory, Princeton University Observatory, U.S. Naval Observatory, Harvard College Observatory, Student's Observatory of the University of California, Ladd Observatory of Brown University and Sproul Observatory of Swarthmore College.

Alan Turing is often considered the father of computer science and, by proxy, of the craft of programming. He was responsible for helping design and program a computer to break the German ENIGMA code during World War II.