3 ms·

In the early days, hardware was men's work, and programming was women's work. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ENIAC#Programming https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ENI

In the early days, hardware was men's work, and programming was women's work. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ENIAC#Programming https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ENIAC#Programming ENIAC started with an exclusively female group of six programmers. This Cosmo article is from 1967: http://boingboing.net/2015/07/31/the-computer-girls-1967-c.html http://boingboing.net/2015/07/31/the-computer-girls-1967-c.h... In a line sure to make heads explode, it quotes Grace Hopper explaining how programming is just like planning dinner.

magicalist 11y ago
> In a line sure to make heads explode, it quotes Grace Hopper explaining how programming is just like planning dinner. It is just like planning dinner. Programming isn't magic and it's wankery to suggest otherwise.
niuzeta 11y ago
Well, now that you think about it, my old Java book had suspiciously many metaphors of ovens, and cakes, and "consumptions"...
Doofas 11y ago
In the early days doing basic arithmetic to count up data was woman’s work because it was a low skill job that only required a person to sit down and know basic 4th grade math. Female programmers where just people who would rewire the computers do to arithmetic that the mathematicians "programmed". They did not write the algorithms nor did they know anything more than the basics of "this plug does this". their job was taking a work sheet and making the machine do what the work sheet instructed them to do. as computers automated this the female "programmers" where no longer needed to do this low skill job https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Two_women_operating_ENIAC.gif https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Two_wome... Another example of females doing low skill work that seems technical are phone workers in the 50s https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/Telephone_operators,_1952.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/Telephon... Due to modern programming jobs being simple maintenance work women are being pushed into the job to get them to lower the wages of male workers. If you are a male who is a programmer or female with a husband who is a programmer you are cheering for lower wages
tagrun 11y ago
You're extrapolating from a few select examples. ASCC and many other computer precede ENIAC, and their programming was absolutely not a "women's work".

magicalist 11y ago

> In a line sure to make heads explode, it quotes Grace Hopper explaining how programming is just like planning dinner. It is just like planning dinner. Programming isn't magic and it's wankery to suggest otherwise.

niuzeta 11y ago

Well, now that you think about it, my old Java book had suspiciously many metaphors of ovens, and cakes, and "consumptions"...

Doofas 11y ago

In the early days doing basic arithmetic to count up data was woman’s work because it was a low skill job that only required a person to sit down and know basic 4th grade math. Female programmers where just people who would rewire the computers do to arithmetic that the mathematicians "programmed". They did not write the algorithms nor did they know anything more than the basics of "this plug does this". their job was taking a work sheet and making the machine do what the work sheet instructed them to do. as computers automated this the female "programmers" where no longer needed to do this low skill job https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Two_women_operating_ENIAC.gif https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Two_wome... Another example of females doing low skill work that seems technical are phone workers in the 50s https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/Telephone_operators,_1952.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/Telephon... Due to modern programming jobs being simple maintenance work women are being pushed into the job to get them to lower the wages of male workers. If you are a male who is a programmer or female with a husband who is a programmer you are cheering for lower wages

tagrun 11y ago

You're extrapolating from a few select examples. ASCC and many other computer precede ENIAC, and their programming was absolutely not a "women's work".