12 PM | 21 Feb

The Queen of #Code – a film about Grace Hopper [#geekgirl]

Source: Refinery 29

Grace Hopper was a computing genius, a scientist, a glass-ceiling breaker, a feminist, and an all-around badass — and you’ve likely never heard of her.

Today, she’s finally getting her due. Hopper, who died in 1992, was a computer engineer who served in the Navy during World War II and went on to develop the first real computer software — long before “software” was even a concept with a name. A video from FiveThirtyEight’s Signals series, called “The Queen of Code,” celebrates her life and work.

Source: FiveThirtyEight

You probably don’t know the name Grace Hopper, but you should.

As a rear admiral in the U.S. Navy, Hopper worked on the first computer, the Harvard Mark 1. And she headed the team that created the first compiler, which led to the creation of COBOL, a programming language that by the year 2000 accounted for 70 percent of all actively used code. Passing away in 1992, she left behind an inimitable legacy as a brilliant programmer and pioneering woman in male-dominated fields.

Hopper’s story is told in “The Queen of Code,” directed by Gillian Jacobs (of “Community” fame). It’s the latest film in FiveThirtyEight’s “Signals” series.

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