The modern programming language Ada is named in 1979 to honor the first known computer programmer Augusta Ada Byron. Born in 1815, Augusta Ada Byron developed a computer program to run on Charles Babbage’s Analytical Machine computer. The program was designed to compute the mathematical sequence known as Bernoulli numbers.

- The “Computer History Daily Quote”
- http://www.printedowl.com/

Why am I publishing this?
You might be wondering why I am now publishing these computer history daily quotes. For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated with technology. Furthermore, I am a very curious person when it comes to little-known facts. So I was very pleased when I found this little widget that I published to my iGoogle start page. Some of the daily vignettes are not very interesting, but many of them are. So, I will re-publish the ones that I find particularly compelling. I love history, technology, and trivia- so this is fun for me.

You know, when I was in high school I competed on my high school’s “quiz bowl” team. (Wikipedia: quiz bowl)The competition was for Houston area high schools and was called the “Texaco Star Academic Challenge.” When I was younger I would watch these competitions on public television, never knowing that I would be the captain of my high school’s team. Too bad we never made it to the television round! As a team, we didn’t compete very well, but I had a blast because I got a chance to be around other people who find useless trivia interesting. I guess this computer history thing is sort of like that. I guess you can say I’m a sucker for nostalgia!

My memories of the Texaco Star Academic Challenge.