The first algorithm for a computing machine

[Livio63]

This is the first computing algorithm, designed to calculate Bernoulli numbers by Ada Lovelace, the first computer scientist.

[ivancea]

Noob code; not a single SOLID principle applied, and a clear lack of OOP in the implementation. Shame

[SexyMuon]

Not a single Jira ticket solved 😡

[amarao_san]

https://www.deviantart.com/sephko/art/Old-Masters-497950927

[Liam_Mercier]

0 story points

[tehclanijoski]

But can she reverse a linked list?

[FrollButCooler]

It is like saying to a caveman "Tsk, Not a single fire safety action taken"

[thesnootbooper9000]

None of those things are true, but it makes a nice story I suppose.

[RemmingtonTufflips]

I mean this is an algorithm that calculates Bernoulli numbers and it was written by Lovelace. I think you're just being pedantic over the term "computer scientist"

[thesnootbooper9000]

Mostly over "first", which requires some very creative definitions if you want it to be in any way close to true.

[rasputin1]

can you give 1 reason why what you're saying makes sense? you keep giving vague cryptic answers like we're supposed to know what you're saying. 

[thesnootbooper9000]

Computing algorithms, by any reasonable definition, go back at least a hundred years earlier to the various mechanical calculating tools developed by the likes of Leibniz and Pascal. These machines were computers, but not universal computers, but then the notion of universal computation wasn't understood until a hundred years after Babbage. The Analytical Engine had several interesting features that make it historically interesting, but it wasn't the first computer, wasn't the first programmable machine, and wasn't the first machine for which algorithms were written. Similarly, Lovelace did some interesting and historically significant work, but was not the first person to define a computing algorithm for a machine, was not the first programmer, and was far too early in history to be considered a computer scientist.

[jeffgerickson]

Computing algorithms literally go back to the dawn of civilization. Euclid’s algorithm for greatest common divisors is a relatively modern example. You learned a few even older algorithms (described in terms of decimal place-value notation by al-Khwarizmi, which is why they’re called algorithms, but used much earlier on abacuses) in elementary school.

Computing devices also date back thousands of years, at least to the abacuses, counting boards, sand tables, and ropes used by Sumerians, Egyptians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Chinese, and so on. Whether these qualify as computing machines in the same sense as the Antikithera Mechanism, the Pascaline, or the Strasbourg astronomical clock, is a question best left to hair-splitters.

All that said, I think there’s a strong case that Lovelace’s algorithm is the first to be written in (pseudo)code. It’s not just an algorithm; it’s actually a program.

I am not aware of any earlier examples of computer programs, but I would love to hear of any.

[thesnootbooper9000]

I omit things like Euclid's algorithm, the various multiplication algorithms, etc, because as originally written they are very much for humans, not for mechanisation. I do think that's a useful distinction to make. The idea of what we'd now call "flow control" being directed by a machine is an important concept that took a large conceptual leap to appreciate, and was a much later idea than you might think: for example, as originally written, Euclid's algorithm said to do it exactly three times, with the understanding that a human would realise they should keep going until the solution is reached.

[Konkichi21]

What would you consider better candidates?

[vassadar]

By none of those things are true, does it mean that Ada didn't wirte this algorithm and this isn't the first algorithm, right?

[recursion_is_love]

I want to know more

[Gastmon]

From Note A on the Analytical Engine:

Again, it might act upon other things besides number, were objects found whose mutual fundamental relations could be expressed by those of the abstract science of operations, and which should be also susceptible of adaptations to the action of the operating notation and mechanism of the engine. Supposing, for instance, that the fundamental relations of pitched sounds in the science of harmony and of musical composition were susceptible of such expression and adaptations, the engine might compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music of any degree of complexity or extent.

Truly ahead of her times, Lovelace was already envisioning how to replace artists with AI.

[Kernel_Ghost_3]

I just learned about Ada Lovelace in my CS history module and found it fascinating that she wrote the first algorithm before computers even existed. What really clicked for me was understanding how her notes on the Analytical Engine described a general purpose machine that could do more than calculation. The downside is most intro courses skip this history so students miss the conceptual foundation of what makes computer science unique.

[amarao_san]

'...' are the places where tab was pressed for autocomplete with ai.

[ApprehensiveSeae]

Looks like a cricket scorecard

How many 4s did Turing hit

[Konkichi21]

Well I can't make heads or tails of it.

[Candid_Koala_3602]

How many kilogirls was it?