Amazing Grace

Who? Grace Hopper
When? 1949
What?  The invention of the first compiler
How? Genius thinking and inspiring innovation

Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, USN, PhD

Grace Murray Hopper graduated from Vassar College in 1928 with a BA in mathematics and physics. In 1930 Hopper earned a MA and then a PhD in 1934 from Yale. She was one of four women in a doctoral qualification out of 10, in a time when a doctorate in mathematics was a very rare. She became the leading lady when it came to technology, science and design,

Hopper invented the first compiler for a computer programming language in 1949. In the late 40s, programs contained mnemonics (memory devices that help learners to recall larger pieces of information,  in the form of lists like characteristics, steps, stages phases) which were transformed into binary code instructions executable by the computer.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Grace_Hopper_and_UNIVAC.jpg

Admiral Hopper and her team expanded this improvement on binary code with the development of the first compiler, the A-O. The compilers in the A-O series translated symbolic mathematical code into machine code, and also allowed the specification of call numbers assigned to collected programming routines which were stored on magnetic tape! This enabled the user to simply specify the call numbers of the particular routines and then the computer would  "find them on the tape, bring them over and do the additions. This was the first compiler," she explained. [2] 

It is amazing to reflect back on what and who was behind the creation of the first computer compiler. This was a massive step forward in technology and this has been developed into the compilers we use today in the labs to program our own baseboards.

By Sophie Wicks

References

[1] http://www.daveswhiteboard.com/archives/1892
[2] http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/tap/Files/hopper-story.html