Some of you may be wondering, who is Ada? Why is the store named after her and why is there a huge painting of her hanging prominently in the store?
Well, here is today’s brief history lesson:
Ada Lovelace is considered the first computer programmer. She lived from 1815-1852 and was the daughter of the poet Lord Byron and Anne Isabella Milbanke. Although, she never knew her father, she still had his talent for writing and a bit of his eccentric personality. Her mother encouraged her, starting at a young age, to study mathematics. It was extremely rare for a woman, especially of her stature, to study math. There is rumor that her mother encouraged it because she did not want Ada to turn out anything like her poetic, literary father.
As a young adult, around the age of 17, Ada became friends with Charles Babbage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Babbage). Babbage is credited with inventing the first computer- the Analytical Engine. Ada took an interest in the Analytical Engine and began studying math specific to the machine. She eventually convinced Babbage to let her translate the only article written about the machine from French to English. She also added her own commentary to the article, including some algorithms that could be run on the machine. These algorithms are what are considered the first computer programs. Since Babbage never finished his machine due to mechanical techniques of the day, the algorithms were never run on the machine during their lifetime. However, in 1991, the machine was completed by Doron Swade and everything ran as predicted by Ada and Babbage.
Ada died at the young age of 37 from cervical cancer.
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