Ada: A Life And A Legacy (History of Computing) [Paperback]

Dorothy Stein (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0262691167 | ISBN-13: 978-0262691161 | Publication Date: July 29, 1987

Augusta Ada Byron, Countess of Lovelace, was the daughter of Lord Byron and a close friend to many of the leading figures of the Victorian era; based on her report on Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine she is also generally known as the inventor of the science of computer programming. In this engrossing biography, Dorothy Stein strips away the many layers of myth to reveal a story far more dramatic and fascinating than previous accounts have indicated.Dorothy Stein is a psychologist with a special interest in thought and language and a background in physics and computer programming. She has taught courses in nineteenth-century women's history and in the biology and psychology of sex differences, and is particularly concerned with the use of myth in science.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Augusta Ada Bryon, Countess of Lovelace, the only legitimate daughter of poet Lord Byron, never quite emerges alive from under the letters, memoirs and documents Stein investigates and interprets. A major portion of the book concentrates on Ada's scientific endeavorsfrom her report on Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine (considered the first computer) to her studies in mathematics, electrical current and magnetismand readers who are not scientifically inclined may find the material difficult. Pointing to the vagueness and tentativeness with which Ada questioned Babbage in her letters, Stein breaks the myth of Ada's genius. It is her questing spirit which we should admire, Stein, a psychologist, believes, and so we do, while cringing at Ada's delusionsshe saw herself as on a mission from Heaven. Ada's life was indeed Byronic, the most interesting parts still shrouded in mystery: brought up by an overbearing mother, she tried to run away with her tutor; married and had three children; studied not only mathematics but also music and wrote poetry; had an affair we know nothing about; and gambled obsessively as a gesture of the resentment she felt against both parents, or so the author argues. She suffered from several ills throughout her life, from gastritis to mania to the cancer which killed her, and she left only a small body of work behind. If anyone comes to life in these pages it is Lady Byron, who paraded her martyrdom with her poet husband and her perfection as a mother. November
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Augusta Ada Byron, daughter of Lord Byron, and later Countess of Loveless, is known today mostly as an acute mathematician and "interpreter of the designs of the first modern computer." By analyzing original documents, Stein has carefully accessed Ada's mathematical and scientific prowess. Stein corrects several misinterpretations, and shows that Ada was almost anything except the scientiic genius she and others have maintained she was. Nor was Ada the world's first computer programmer. Stein has also given us a view of Victorian science and society, examining such luminaries as Charles Babbage, Augustus De Morgan, and Mary Somerville. Highly recommended for both scholars and interested laypeople. E. Robert Paul, History of Science Program, Dickinson Coll., Carlisle, Pa.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 392 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press (July 29, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262691167
• ISBN-13: 978-0262691161
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,431,893 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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This review is from: Ada: A Life And A Legacy (History of Computing) (Paperback)

If you are a computer programmer, you should know that the first programmer is often considered to be Ada Lovelace. And her name lives on as a US Department of Defense computing language. (Though that language has gained no traction elsewhere.)

But who was the real Ada Lovelace? Stein has done some solid research into what is actually known and recorded about her. We see a complicated personality. Whose precise relationship to Charles Babbage is still somewhat unclear. Where they lovers? Or just friends? What we have is seen through the prism of Victorian Britain's mores, and the surviving documents are perhaps deliberately ambiguous on this point.

Ada's guesses about software that might run on Charles Babbage's machine were inspired. All the more so because there was no precedent, beyond the cards used for looms. It remains a historical pity that the machine never fully worked. In effect, she could never compile and run her code.