Ada Lovelace: the first computer programmerīy these commonly held definitions of computers and programming, Ada Lovelace (1815–1852) is known as the world’s first computer programmer. With programming, on the other hand, anyone (not just the computer designer) can put together a set of instructions that tell a computer what to do next. In other words, they were designed and built to perform one function or a specific set of functions. The earliest examples of computers were impressive (more on that below), but they weren’t programmable.

But centuries before electronic computers, people all over the industrialized world were using mechanical computers, which used levers and gears to perform simple addition for shopkeepers and accountants as well as complex mathematical operations.Īnd what exactly is programming? People still argue about the precise definition of computer programming, but here’s a very basic history of the term. Today, it’s all too easy to limit our thinking to electronic computers, which were invented and developed within the last 100 years. So, what’s technically considered a computer? In the most general sense, a computer is any machine that can automatically carry out a mathematical or logical operation based on a given input. If doctors can look to Hippocrates and engineers to Archimedes, who do computer programmers turn to as the one who started it all? It can be a tricky question, especially since it’s not always clear what exactly programming is and what counts as a computer. And as you start your new career in programming and development, you might be wondering about the history of it all. Today, almost everyone we know can use a computer, which can perform mind-blowing calculations in the blink of an eye thanks to computer programmers.

Jacquard programming