Major Contribution: Wrote the first computer program and contributed to the work of Charles Babbage.
Ada Lovelace was an English mathematician and writer chiefly known of rher work on Charles Babbage's early mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analysical Engine.
She understood the
plans for the device as well as Babbage but was better at articulating its
promise and potential.
She correctly
perceived the engine as what is not referred to as a general-purpose
computer. It was suited for "developing and tabulating any function
whatever. . . the engine is the material expression of any indefinite
function of any degree of generality and complexity." Her notes anticipated
future developments.
Ada’s notes on the
Analytical Engine include what is recognized as the first
algorithm intended to be processed by a machine. Because of
this, she is often considered the world's first computer
programmer. The computer language
Ada , was named after
Ada Lovelace.
This type of analysis was a conceptual leap from previous ideas about the capabilities of computing devices, and foreshadowed the capabilities and implications of the modern computer. Thus, Ada Lovelace was the visionary half of the team that helped create the modern computer.