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I like this video of Admiral Grace Hopper talking about processing speeds. She illustrates it with her famous "nanoseconds" - pieces of wire that a electricity

by rdtsc 10y ago

I like this video of Admiral Grace Hopper talking about processing speeds. She illustrates it with her famous "nanoseconds" - pieces of wire that a electricity would travel in a nanosecond. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEpsKnWZrJ8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEpsKnWZrJ8 What a great role model, for programmers, for women, but also for anyone working in a bureaucratic system. One of her famous quotes is "It's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission". It became a classic. Python's programming paradigm, for example, which prefers exceptions instead of condition checks is named that. "Computer bugs" phrase also seem to originate with her. Also based on Wikipedia she also was the oldest serving officer in the United States Navy.

deleted 10y ago
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phamilton 10y ago
> "It's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission" In Swedish this even rhymes. (förlåtelse == forgiveness, tillåtelse == permission). It's a wonderful phrase.
- joss82 10y ago
  In French too: pardon/permission Very nice indeed.
happy-go-lucky 10y ago
> Here's a microsecond. Nine hundred and eighty-four feet. I sometimes think we ought to hang one over every programmer's desk, or around their neck, so they know what they're throwing away when they throw away microseconds. > An admiral wanted to know why it took so damn long to send a message via satellite, and I had to point out that between here and the satellite there were a very large number of nanoseconds. In the video, she's very charismatic and dignified, using humor as appropriate, with a firm focus on the subject.
jgrahamc 10y ago
I saw that some years ago and made downloadable nanoseconds to print on A4 or 8.5"x11" paper: http://blog.jgc.org/2012/10/a-downloadable-nanosecond.html http://blog.jgc.org/2012/10/a-downloadable-nanosecond.html
- rdtsc 10y ago
  Thanks for sharing it. I love it!

by rdtsc 10y ago

deleted 10y ago

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phamilton 10y ago

> "It's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission" In Swedish this even rhymes. (förlåtelse == forgiveness, tillåtelse == permission). It's a wonderful phrase.

joss82 10y ago
In French too: pardon/permission Very nice indeed.

happy-go-lucky 10y ago

> Here's a microsecond. Nine hundred and eighty-four feet. I sometimes think we ought to hang one over every programmer's desk, or around their neck, so they know what they're throwing away when they throw away microseconds. > An admiral wanted to know why it took so damn long to send a message via satellite, and I had to point out that between here and the satellite there were a very large number of nanoseconds. In the video, she's very charismatic and dignified, using humor as appropriate, with a firm focus on the subject.

jgrahamc 10y ago

I saw that some years ago and made downloadable nanoseconds to print on A4 or 8.5"x11" paper: http://blog.jgc.org/2012/10/a-downloadable-nanosecond.html http://blog.jgc.org/2012/10/a-downloadable-nanosecond.html

rdtsc 10y ago
Thanks for sharing it. I love it!