奥古斯塔艾达,拉弗拉斯伯爵夫人,英国数学家,世界上第一个计算机程序员。代表文献是翻译巴贝奇分析机的理论和性能的文章时所加的注释。
艾达女士是英国著名诗人拜伦的女儿,她的母亲Annabella Milbanke Byron也是一位著名数学家。艾达接受了严格的艺术与科学训练。1835年7月8日艾达.拜伦与威廉.金(William King)结婚,1838年威廉.金被封为拉夫拉斯伯爵(Earl of Lovelace),因此艾达也获得拉夫拉斯伯爵夫人(Countess of Lovelace)的称号。
艾达18岁时听了巴贝奇关于设计差分机的讲演,从而对巴贝奇的机器产生了浓厚的兴趣。后来又对全新的分析机特别地着迷。从1836年1月18日开始,艾达给巴贝奇写信,探讨分析机的各种问题。一直到生命结束,她给巴贝奇写了大量的信件。这是研究ada编程思想的重要资料。
在将巴贝奇的Elements of Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine从法文翻译成英文的过程中,艾达加入了大量注释。注释比原文的长度扩展了三倍。她全力以赴,对于和这个题目有关的很困难、很抽象的问题都作了解释。并通过完整的示范,让读者可以了解如何使用分析机去执行分析开发的任务。
由于艾达小时候父母就已经离婚了,而且拜伦后来也离开了英国,因此,艾达同拜伦没有任何接触。不过,艾达仍然从她的诗人父亲那里继承了天生的敏感,也从她的母亲那里继承了数学家的韧性。为了纪念艾达,拉夫拉斯伯爵夫人,用她的名字作为程序语言Ada的标志。
Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (10 December 1815 – 27 November 1852), born Augusta Ada Byron, was an English writer chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's early mechanical general-purpose computer, the analytical engine. Her notes on the engine include what is recognized as the first algorithm intended to be processed by a machine; thanks to this, she is sometimes considered the "World's First Computer Programmer".
Lovelace was often ill, dating from her early childhood. At the age of eight, she experienced headaches that obscured her vision.[6] In June 1829, she was paralyzed after a bout of the measles. She was subjected to continuous bed rest for nearly a year, which may have extended her period of disability. By 1831 she was able to walk with crutches.
Throughout her illnesses, Lovelace continued her education. Her mother's obsession with rooting out any of the insanity of which she accused Lord Byron was one of the reasons that Lovelace was taught mathematics from an early age. Lovelace was privately schooled in mathematics and science by William Frend, William King and Mary Somerville. One of her later tutors was the noted mathematician and logician Augustus De Morgan. From 1832, when she was seventeen, her remarkable mathematical abilities began to emerge, and her interest in mathematics dominated her life even after her marriage. In a letter to Lovelace's mother, De Morgan suggested that Lovelace's skill in mathematics could lead her to become "an original mathematical investigator, perhaps of first-rate eminence".
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