Ada Byron, Lady Lovelace, an analyst and metaphysician

There may be controversy about when the computer revolution began, but to me a revolution begins with an idea, and that idea was Charles Babbage´s Analytical Engine conceived in 1834. The computer revolution also began with a woman, Augusta Ada Byron, Lady Lovelace, who wrote an article in 1843 that not only gave us descriptive, analytical, contextual, and metaphysical information about the Analytical Engine but also the first program. Her prescient comments have stood the test of time. Augusta Ada Byron, Lady Lovelace (1815-1852), is regarded by some people as the first programmer and by others as a science fiction archetype, perhaps as “mad and bad” as her illustrious father, Lord Byron. At the very least, Ada is one of the most colorful characters in computer history