The ENIAC Programmers
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| Audience/Grade: | 6-Continuing Education |
| Discipline(s): |
Computer Engineering Computer Science Computing Diversity Engineering Diversity |
| Special Topic(s): |
Women and Information Technology |
| Learning Resource Type: |
Reference - Article/Document |
| Media Type: |
Unknown |
| Author(s): |
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| Description: | The first programmers, then called "computers," were over 80 women at the University of Pennsylvania during World War II calculating ballistics trajectories. "When the Army agreed to fund an experimental project, the first all-electronic digital computer, six "Computers" were selected in 1945 to be its first programmers. They were Kathleen McNulty Mauchly Antonelli, Jean Jennings Bartik, Frances Snyder Holberton, Marlyn Wescoff Meltzer, Frances Bilas Spence and Ruth Lichterman Teitelbaum. The ENIAC was the first all-electronic digital computer, a machine of approximately 18,000 vacuum tubes and forty black 8-foot panels. Because the ENIAC project was classified, the programmers were denied access to the machine they were supposed to tame into usefulness until they received their security clearances. As the first programmers, they had no programming manuals or courses, only the logical diagrams to help them figure out how to make the ENIAC work. They had none of the programming tools of today. Instead, the programmers had to physically program the ballistics program by using the 3000 switches and dozens of cables and digit trays to physically route the data and program pulses through the machine. Therefore, the description for the first programming job might have read: "Requires physical effort, mental creativity, innovative spirit, and a high degree of patience." On February 15, 1946, the ENIAC Computer was unveiled to the public and press. It ran the ballistics trajectory programmed by the six programmers and captured the world's imagination. In 1947, the ENIAC was turned into a "stored program" computer, the world's first. Thus, these six programmers were the only generation of programmers to program it at the machine level. All six women contributed to the programming the ENIAC. Many of these pioneer programmers went on to develop innovative tools for future software engineers and to teach others early programming techniques." |
| Rating: | No Rating |
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| Version Info | |
| Publication Date: | January 1997 |
| Platform/Format: |
WWW |
| Cost: |
Free |
| Download URL: | http://www.witi.com/center/witimuseum/halloffame/1997/eniac.php |
| Metadata: |
IEEE LOM Record |
| Collection: |
ACM Women in Computing
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