"Ada" entries

Ada Lovelace, an Indirect and Reciprocal Influence

Celebrating women in technology and the curious mind of Ada Lovelace

When I heard that Ada Lovelace Day was coming, I questioned myself, “What do I actually know about Ada Lovelace?” The sum total of my knowledge: Ada was the first woman programmer and the Department of Defense honored her contributions to computation in 1979 by naming its common programming language Ada.

A few Ada biographies later, I know Augusta Ada Lovelace to be an incredibly complex woman with a painful life story, one in which math, shame, and illness were continuously resurfacing themes. Despite all, Ada tirelessly pursued her passion for mathematics, making her contributions to computing undeniable and her genius all the more clear. Her accomplishments continue to serve as an inspiration to women throughout the world.

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In Praise of the Lone Contributor

The O'Reilly Open Source Awards 2013

Over the years, OSCON has become a big conference. With over 3900 registered this year, it was hard not to look at the packed hallways and sessions and think what a huge crowd it is. The number of big-name companies participating–Microsoft, Google, Dell, and even General Motors–reinforce the popular refrain that open source has come a long way; it’s all mainstream now.

Which is as it should be. And it’s been a long haul. But thinking of open source in terms of numbers and size puts us in danger of forgetting the very thing that makes open source special, and that’s the individual contributor. So while open source software has indeed found a place in almost every organization that exists, it was made possible by the hard work of real people who saw the need for it, most of them volunteering in their spare time.

The O’Reilly Open Source Awards were created to recognize and thank these individuals. It’s a community-driven effort: nominations come in from the open source community (this year there were around 50) and then are judged by the previous year’s winners. It’s not intended to be political or a popularity contest, but honest appreciation for hard work that matters. Let’s look at this year’s winners.
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