Re: "C" vrs ADA

[jru@etn-rad.UUCP (John Unekis)]

In article <650@cfa.cfa.harvard.EDU> wyatt@cfa.harvard.EDU (Bill Wyatt) writes:
>
>Re: the original posting of misinformation about the Countess Lovelace
>(and C, Unix, and everything else, just about):
>...

In response to the criticism that I have received for 
calling Ada Lovelace the mistress of Charles Babbage I went 
out and did a little research. As it turns out , Charles 
Babbage had concieved an idea for a mechanical differencing 
engine and was able to convince the British government to 
fund its development. This engine was to use punched cards 
and was inspired by the loom of Joseph Jacquard, although 
Babbages machine was essentially an adding machine. While 
the difference engine was still unfinished Babbage came up 
with an idea for a new machine which he dubbed the 
analytical engine and began to divert his efforts to the new 
design. He ran out of funding and managed to alienate his 
friends in Parliament in his attempts to drum up more 
support. He lost the engineers who were working on the 
machine because he couldn't pay them, and in leaving they 
took all his machine tools in place of back pay. At this 
point he met Ada. She was actually Ada Augusta King, the 
Countess of Lovelace , daughter of Lord Byron. She was still 
a teenager at the time, and was a serious student of 
mathematics. She wanted to be tutored in his methods, and 
since she was rich and he was broke, it seemed like a good 
match. They worked together for many years and she was 
credited with such ideas as the use of binary instead of 
decimal numbers for calculation. They were seen together 
socially, although her status as his lover is open to 
debate. Ada died young(36) of a unknown disease. She 
attempted to leave her fortune to Babbage, but her family 
prevented it. After her death Babbage worked odd jobs to 
support himself, but he was unable to complete either of his 
calculating engines. He died in 1871, but his notes were rediscovered in 1937, 
and he has been credited with inventing the digital 
computer.

Consider the following-

Ada Lovelace was a woman who spent her time and money on a 
computer project that :

A) Was probably not possible with existing technology 
(Babbage had no end of trouble getting precisely machined 
gears).

B) Was completely redesigned while it was already slipping 
its development schedule.

C) Ran over budget, and had to apply to the government for
additional funding.

D) Was denied additional funds and had to lay off its 
engineers.

E) Never delivered a working computer system.


How could I have been so blind. I take back everything I 
said about her. Ada is the perfect name for a computer 
language that will be the standard for the U.S. military and
aerospace contracting industries.

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Disclaimer: My employer did not authorize my actions, I have
acted on my own initiative.