Ada is generally regarded as the world’s first computer programmer. No word on if she used Agile or OO approaches with Charles Babbage’s Difference and Analytical engine.
She wrote the programs based on Babbage’s ideas for implementation, he hadn’t even built the thing yet.
She was the only child of the Poet Byron.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Lovelace
The day is used as a means of promoting women in Computer Science and in engineering in general. I think that is sort of dumb. Not women in CS and engineering, just having a day to promote what is really a career that MOST men or women are unsuited for.
Successful software engineers are drawn to it out of love, not because it offers potentially stable employment. Once I did it, in the 8th grade, I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. It consumed me for years. Most of the people that succeed long term in the career have similar early experiences. Few, maybe one or two, that I’ve ever encountered that have had successful and enjoyable careers decided to do CS after a career day briefing.
In college I tried to combine my interest in the outdoors and computer science by studying Forestry, which is very computer programming centric (you can simulate forests on a computer very well). But after a year, I gave up and decided that the Army was enough “outside time” and that I’d switch to pure CS and Mathematics. I don’t regret the decision at all.