Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace, was a British mathematician and writer in the 19th Century, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's early mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine. Her notes on the engine include what is recognised as the first algorithm intended to be carried out by a machine. Because of this, she is often regarded as the first computer programmer.
Girls in Year 7 have been learning about the work of Ada in their ICT lessons and are starting to using computer coding themselves. As part of a national competition girls were invited to write a letter to Ada – explaining how technology has changed over the last two centuries. Below is an extract, with contributions from Havana I., Eloise M., Siya G., Emma S., Jennifer E. and Eleanor J.
Dear Ada
We have more things that help us live thanks to your work, most notably the life support machine. This amazing invention has saved many people’s lives and has cured many people.
Transportation has been transformed by technology, most notably the aeroplane - a vehicle that flies through the air. It has a computer that tells the aeroplane how to fly and what to do if something goes wrong. Cars are road vehicles and are powered by an internal-combustion engine and able to carry a small number of people. Sadly, whilst carrying around people they produce carbon monoxide which is bad for the environment so we have to try to do something about this.
You will not believe that mankind has been able to create signaling devices and put these into orbit around the earth. Like the moon, these devices are called satellites. These are able to send signals down to the earth, which people can use to identify their position on the map.
In 1927, over 50 years after your death, the television was invented by John Logie Baird. It is a gadget which broadcasts moving pictures right into to our homes! It shows lots of different programmes, for example, cookery, gardening, news and children’s programmes.
The modern day computer can carry out several billion calculations per second. It can be connected to "internet" that can be seen as an information super highway, where I can find information about anything just by typing a few letters on the screen - it is like having our own personal library. Millions of people use the internet every single day. Google is a particular search facility that can help us find out things. We have used Google to find out the information for this letter.
Broadband is a high capacity transmitter which uses a high range of frequencies enabling it to communicate a large number of messages simultaneously. 4G provides significantly faster mobile broadband internet access and are now available to around 75 per cent of the UK's population. People now talk via their computers rather than face to face and we call it "online chat". Can you imagine one can have hundreds of friends that one may never have met? However, there is a new type of virus now called a computer virus that some unscrupulous people create to cheat and upset people.
A mobile phone is a small handheld device, which is used to send messages to people. You type your message onto the screen, and click a button to send it.
On 3rd April 2010 a large company called Apple released the first iPad. It a device with a touch screen which looks like a keyboard. The iPad can connect to the internet. An iPad can shoot videos, take photos, play music and perform Internet functions such as web-browsing and emailing. Over 250 million iPads have been sold. It is hard to imagine life without these gadgets as we have grown up with them all around.
We know that much of the above would not have been possible without your pioneering work and will always be grateful to you as the first woman programmer.
Yours sincerely
Year 7 at Howell’s School, Cardiff