baudot

Thanks, google, for today's doodle, reminding us of Admiral Grace Hopper. She invented the first compiler. That's the thing that turns a programming language into the actual electrical signals that make your computer run. Before Grace, if you wanted to program a computer, you had to translate your ideas into 1's and 0's yourself. And each computer was different. With the compiler, we programmers could learn a computer language, and then the compiler would turn it into the language of each individual computer.

She was also a proper smartass. And as much of a rebel as a high military officer might be. Grace is credited with coining the phrase, "It's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission."