Ada’s Legacy

ACM Books

Editor in Chief
M. Tamer Özsu, University of Waterloo

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Ada’s Legacy
Robin Hammerman, Stevens Institute of Technology; Andrew L. Russell, Stevens Institute of
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2016

Edmund Berkeley and the Social Responsibility of Computer Professionals

Bernadette Longo, New Jersey Institute of Technology
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Candidate Multilinear Maps

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Trust Extension as a Mechanism for Secure Code Execution on Commodity Computers

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Embracing Interference in Wireless Systems
Shyamnath Gollakota, University of Washington
2014
Ada’s Legacy

Robin Hammerman
Stevens Institute of Technology

Andrew L. Russell
Stevens Institute of Technology

ACM Books #7
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Ada’s Legacy
Robin Hammerman, Andrew L. Russell
books.acm.org
www.morganclaypool.com

ISBN: 978-1-97000-151-8 hardcover

ISBN: 978-1-97000-148-8 paperback
ISBN: 978-1-97000-149-5 ebook
ISBN: 978-1-97000-150-1 ePub
Series ISSN: 2374-6769 print 2374-6777 electronic

DOIs: 10.1145/2809523 Book

10.1145/2809523.2809524 Preface
10.1145/2809523.2809525 Chapter 1
10.1145/2809523.2809526 Part I
10.1145/2809523.2809527 Chapter 2
10.1145/2809523.2809528 Chapter 3
10.1145/2809523.2809529 Chapter 4
10.1145/2809523.2809530 Chapter 5
10.1145/2809523.2809531 Chapter 6
10.1145/2809523.2809532 Part II
10.1145/2809523.2809533 Chapter 7
10.1145/2809523.2809534 Chapter 8
10.1145/2809523.2809535 Chapter 9
10.1145/2809523.2809536 Part III
10.1145/2809523.2809537 Chapter 10
10.1145/2809523.2809538 Chapter 11
10.1145/2809523.2809539 Chapter 12

A publication in the ACM Books series, #7

Editor in Chief: M. Tamer Özsu, University of Waterloo
Area Editor: Thomas J. Misa, University of Minnesota

First Edition
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
 Contents

Preface xi

Chapter 1 Introduction 1
Robin Hammerman, Andrew L. Russell

PART I ADA’S LEGACY IN COMPUTING 8

Chapter 2 Charles Babbage, Ada Lovelace, and the Bernoulli Numbers 11
Thomas J. Misa
2.1 Babbage and Lovelace 15
2.2 Steps to the Sketch 22

Chapter 3 Sketch of the Analytical Engine invented by Charles Babbage, Esq. 33

L. F. Menabrea, translated by Augusta Ada Lovelace, with notes
Notes by the Translator 57

Chapter 4 Ada: Past, Present, Future 107

Jean Ichbiah
4.1 References 121

Chapter 5 The Ada Programming Language 123

Jean E. Sammet, Thomas J. (Tim) Bergin
viii Contents

Chapter 6 The Rise, Fall, and Persistence of Ada 129

Ricky E. Sward
6.1 Introduction 129
6.2 The History of Ada 129
6.3 The Persistence of Ada 131
6.4 Ada Organizations 134
6.5 Ada Projects 135
6.6 Conclusions 137
6.7 References 137

PART II ADA’S LEGACY IN LITERATURE 140

Chapter 7 “I shall in due time be a poet”: Ada Lovelace’s Poetical Science
in Its Literary Context 143
Imogen Forbes-Macphail
7.1 Literary Ambitions 144
7.2 Poetical Science 148
7.3 Mechanical Composition 155
7.4 Conclusion 167

Chapter 8 “A Different Sort of Bird” 169

Victoria Ludas Orlofsky
8.1 Introduction: Ada Lovelace in Steampunk Literature 169
8.2 Ada Lovelace Day 169
8.3 Steampunk 171
8.4 Steampunk Ada 175
8.5 Conclusion 181

Chapter 9 Ada Bright and Dark: Steampunk Representations of the

Enchantress of Numbers 183
Catherine Siemann

PART III ADA’S LEGACY IN THE DIGITAL AGE 202

Chapter 10 Oracle: The Engine Weaves 205
Amy Cunningham
 Contents ix

10.1 Introduction 205

10.2 Context and Process 205
10.3 Extracts of Oracle 206

Chapter 11 “Genderless” Online Discourse in the 1970s: Muted Group Theory

in Early Social Computing 213
Jenny Ungbha Korn
11.1 A Review of Muted Group Theory and Its Applications 216
11.2 A Review of Gendered Electronic Communication 217
11.3 Applying Muted Group Theory to Gendered Electronic Communication 219
11.4 The Muted Role of Women as PLATO Experts 223
11.5 Genderlessness as Muting of Women by Women 226
11.6 Conclusions 228
Acknowledgements 229

Chapter 12 Rebooting the Ada Lovelace Mythos 231

Valerie Aurora

Index 241
Contributor Biographies 247
Preface

Ada’s Legacy illustrates the depth and diversity of writers, thinkers, and makers who
have been inspired by Ada Lovelace, the English mathematician and writer. The vol-
ume, which commemorates the bicentennial of Ada’s birth in December 1815, cele-
brates Lovelace’s many achievements as well as the impact of her life and work, which
reverberated widely since the late 19th century. In the 21st century we have seen a
resurgence in Lovelace scholarship, thanks to the growth of interdisciplinary think-
ing and the expanding influence of women in science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics. Ada’s Legacy is a unique contribution to this scholarship. Here, the edi-
tors present work on topics previously unknown to coexist in print: Ada’s collaboration
with Charles Babbage, the development of the Ada programming language, Ada’s po-
sition in the Victorian and Steampunk literary genres, Ada’s representation in and
inspiration of contemporary art and comics, and Ada’s continued relevance in discus-
sions around gender and technology in the digital age. With the 200th anniversary of
Ada Lovelace’s birth on December 10, 2015, we believe that the timing is perfect to
publish this collection. Because of its broad focus on subjects that reach far beyond
the life and work of Ada herself, Ada’s Legacy will appeal to readers who are curious
about Ada’s enduring importance in computing and the wider world.
The idea for this book originated from the first academic conference of its kind,
Ada Lovelace: An Interdisciplinary Conference Celebrating her Achievements and Legacy,
which took place at Stevens Institute of Technology (Hoboken, New Jersey) on Octo-
ber 18, 2013, under the auspices of the Institute’s College of Arts and Letters. The
time was definitely right to bring this conference to Stevens, which was until 1971
a male-only school. By 1982, Stevens became the first major institute in the United
States to implement a personal computer requirement for its students. Around this
time, a pioneering technology project resulted in the networking of the entire Stevens
campus, creating one of the nation’s first intranets. Additionally, the recent devel-
opment of undergraduate programs in the College of Arts and Letters, including
xii Preface

Gender Studies as well as Science and Technology Studies, which strongly anchors
women in STEM, clearly made Stevens well positioned to host a conference celebrat-
ing Lovelace’s achievements and legacy. The conference brought together interna-
tional scholars from across the disciplines to coincide with the week celebrating Ada
Lovelace Day. Tremendous interest circulated in advance of the conference, particu-
larly among computing history specialists and 19th-century literary scholars, and it
escalated immediately following the proceedings. Tom Misa, director of the Charles
Babbage Institute and a featured speaker at the conference, numbered chiefly among
those who caught this interest. He envisioned the possibility for a book project to
develop concrete examination of ideas inspired by the proceedings. The conference
organizer, Robin Hammerman, and Andrew Russell, director of the College of Arts
and Letters Science and Technology Studies program, enthusiastically agreed to col-
laborate as editors for this interdisciplinary collection.
Many of the papers published in this volume first were presented at the conference
in October 2013. We are pleased to acknowledge the supporters of that conference:
Dr. Lisa Dolling, former Dean of the College of Arts & Letters at Stevens Institute of
Technology, and Dr. George Korfiatis, Provost of Stevens Institute of Technology.
The editors are grateful to Thomas J. Misa, Series Editor for ACM’s History of
Computing, for skillfully overseeing the development of this project from its inception
to completion. We also are happy to thank Diane Cerra, Executive Editor at Morgan
& Claypool Publishers, for her kind and capable attention to the production of this
volume. And we are delighted that Sydney Padua graciously agreed to create original
illustrations for Ada’s Legacy.
1
Introduction
Robin Hammerman, Andrew L. Russell

Augusta Ada Byron was born on December 10, 1815, in London, England. At first
glance there is little to distinguish Ada from other children born to the elites of Re-
gency society: her family was titled, she had unfulfilling relationships with her parents,
and her illnesses and flights of fancy frequently troubled her friends and family. In
at least two other ways, however, Augusta Ada Byron was exceptional. First, she was
the only legitimate daughter of George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788–1824), the celebrity
poet whose social infamy led to his permanent self-exile from England in April 1816.
Moreover, by the time she entered her teens Ada demonstrated an unusual passion
and aptitude for mathematics, and was fortunate to be tutored by a sequence of dis-
tinguished mathematicians, including William Frend, Mary Somerville, and Augustus
De Morgan. Within a few years, Ada became a correspondent and collaborator with no-
table Victorians, including Charles Babbage and, later, Michael Faraday and Charles
Dickens. Her nobility, her gender, her famous father, her mathematical acuity, and
her famous friends and collaborators: these factors together form the setting for Ada’s
reputation and accomplishments in her own time, as well as for Ada’s varied and en-
during legacy after her death from uterine cancer in 1852 at the age of 36.
Ada was rediscovered in the final decades of the 20th century, following significant
attention in 1953 to her renown with the publication of B. V. Bowden’s Faster Than
Thought: A Symposium on Digital Computing Machines (Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1953).
An elegant reproduction of Ada’s image dominating the frontispiece visually orients
readers to the volume’s extensive collection of materials from her notes and corre-
spondence. Consequently, Ada’s life and work became the subject of several biogra-
phies and scholarly studies that advanced competing and at times wildly divergent
representations. Several accounts—including some written for children and young
adults—celebrated Ada as an icon of science and technology, as the “enchantress of
2 Chapter 1 Introduction

numbers,” a “prophet of the computer age,” the “bride of science,” the “computer wiz-
ard of Victorian England,” and the woman who “launched the digital age.”1 But there
were others that portrayed Ada in a far less flattering light. For example, Dorothy Stein
pushed back against “fanciful” accounts by emphasizing Ada’s psychological strug-
gles and gambling; and computer historian Allan G. Bromley dismissed altogether
the notion that Ada might be the “world’s first programmer,” brushing away this “ro-
mantically appealing image” as “without foundation.”2
Beyond this technical and at times testy scholarly debate, Ada’s name also is in-
voked with increasing regularity in a wide variety of technological and social settings
that constitute Ada’s legacy. This volume collects and juxtaposes accounts that link
and locate Ada in these settings, including computer programming, literature, art,
popular culture, social theory, and cultures of computing.
We have organized Ada’s Legacy in three sections, focused on computing, litera-
ture, and the digital age. The first section, “Ada’s Legacy in Computing,” begins with a
chapter by Thomas J. Misa that assesses Ada’s contribution to computing. Misa intro-
duces readers to historical debates around Ada’s mathematical work and her famous
collaboration with Charles Babbage, designer of the Difference Engine (1822) and An-
alytical Engine (1834). Misa notes the passion and even enmity generated by scholars
of the Lovelace–Babbage collaboration—to which he offers the helpful rejoinder, “the
Lovelace–Babbage question is not a zero-sum game.” Misa’s close analysis highlights
important dimensions of Ada’s legacy: collaboration, mathematics, the history and
meaning of the term “computer program,” and the possibility for women to make
germinal contributions in technical fields.
Chapter 3 reprints Lovelace’s famous translation of Menabrea’s “Sketch” that was
first published in Taylor’s Scientific Memoirs in 1843. Readers may be astonished to
see for themselves the sophistication with which Ada translated Menabrea’s words
from the original French and, further—in the extensive notes that doubled the original
manuscript’s length—moved well beyond Menabrea’s interpretation to advance her
own vision of how Babbage’s machines could perform complex calculations. In these
notes, historians have found ample justification for crediting Ada with a vision for

1. Betty A. Toole, Ada, The Enchantress of Numbers: A Selection from the Letters of Lord Byron’s Daughter
and Her Description of the First Computer (Strawberry Press, 1992); Benjamin Wooley, Bride of Science:
Romance, Reason, and Byron’s Daughter (McGraw-Hill, 2002); Lucy Lethbridge, Ada Lovelace: The
Computer Wizard of Victorian England (Short Books Ltd., 2004); James Essinger, Ada’s Algorithm: How
Lord Byron’s Daughter Ada Launched the Digital Age (Melville House, 2014).
2. Dorothy Stein, Ada: A Life and Legacy (MIT Press, 1985) (quote at page x); Allan Bromley, “Difference
and Analytical Engines,” in William Aspray, ed., Computing before Computers (Ames: Iowa State
University Press, 1990), 59–98 (quote at 88–89).
 Chapter 1 Introduction 3

symbol processing and computation that was more expansive and creative than Bab-
bage’s. In Note A, for example, we see Ada’s oft-quoted comment, “We may say most
aptly, that the Analytical Engine weaves algebraical patterns just as the Jacquard-loom
weaves flowers and leaves.”3 We can read Ada’s suggestion that “the engine might com-
pose elaborate and scientific pieces of music of any degree of complexity or extent,”
and her belief that “The Analytical Engine is an embodying of the science of operations,
constructed with peculiar reference to abstract number as the subject of those opera-
tions.”4 And we can see the most famous of her mathematical works in Note G, where
Lovelace describes an algorithm for the computation of Bernoulli numbers. Several
chapters in this volume take direct inspiration from these notes, such as Misa’s de-
tailed examination of Lovelace, Babbage, and the Bernoulli numbers in Chapter 2 and
Amy Cunningham’s multimedia project in Chapter 10.
Three additional chapters in the first section describe the creation and develop-
ment of the Ada computer programming language. Chapter 4 is an interview first
published in Communications of the ACM in 1984 with Jean Ichbiah, the late French
computer scientist who was the principal designer of the Ada programming language.
Ichbiah’s work started when his employer, CII Honeywell Bull, won a contract from
the U.S. Department of Defense to create a new programming language. The purpose
was to overcome incompatibilities that arose with the proliferation of different pro-
gramming languages in the 1960s and 1970s. Ichbiah explains the aims of this effort,
to facilitate maintenance, emphasize clarity, and to define and standardize the lan-
guage through an inclusive and international process. Work on the Ada programming
language began in 1977, was proposed as a standard in 1980, and was published as
an American standard in 1983 and an international standard in 1987.
Chapter 5 excerpts a selection of an oral history interview conducted in 2006 with
Jean E. Sammet, who shortly after serving as President of ACM from 1974–1976 was
involved with the Ada programming language for over ten years as part of her work at
IBM. Sammet describes the process through which Department of Defense officials
contacted Ada’s descendants for permission to name the new programming language
after Ada.5 Sammet, like Ichbiah, emphasizes the social and collaborative aspects of

3. Augusta Ada Lovelace, “Notes by the Translator,” in L. F. Menabrea, “Sketch of the Analytical Engine
Invented by Charles Babbage, Esq.” Taylor’s Scientific Memoirs 3 (1843): 696 (emphasis in original).
4. Lovelace, “Notes by the Translator,” 694 (emphasis in original). For a general history of computer
programming whose title features Ada’s words, see Mark Priestley, A Science of Operations: Machines,
Logic, and the Invention of Programming (Springer, 2011).
5. William Whittaker recalled that the language design group learned about Lady Lovelace from B. V.
Bowden’s 1953 book Faster Than Thought: A Symposium on Digital Computing Machines, and eventually
4 Chapter 1 Introduction

the Ada design effort, as well as its technical characteristics and potential. Chapter
6, by Ricky Sward, describes the “rise, fall, and persistence” of the Ada programming
language. Sward, in 2010, provides examples where the Ada language fell short of
expectations, as well as examples of persistent niche uses for high integrity, safety
critical systems such as avionics, air traffic control, and robotics.6
The second section, “Ada’s Legacy in Literature,” elucidates how Ada Lovelace par-
ticipated in the literary world of her time and how contemporary writers envision
her. Collectively, the essays attest that writers amass a wealth of riches when they
mine from what is known about Ada. Chapter 7, by Imogen Forbes-Macphail, situ-
ates Ada’s contributions to mathematics within the literary context of her Romantic
and Victorian contemporaries and explores ideas concerning the origin and use of
language. These ideas and the questions they raised were circulated simultaneously
among mathematical scientists and writers in her circle of acquaintance. Ultimately,
Macphail examines the implications of Ada’s thoughts concerning machines and po-
etic or artistic composition for both contemporary literary theory and current debates
on artificial intelligence.
Chapters 8 and 9 complete the second section. These chapters explore the ways in
which Ada’s nuanced identities came to life most notably and imaginatively in steam-
punk fiction, a sub-genre of science fiction that adapts past and future technologies
powered by steam to Victorian-era themes and settings. Victoria Ludas Orlofsky con-
tends in Chapter 8 that the first Ada Lovelace Day in 2009 marks a significant turning
point in steampunk representations of women. To this end, Orlofsky presents a tra-
jectory of emblematic ways authors depict women in steampunk culture and novels
from 1990 to the present. The novels—all featuring prominent and sometimes prob-
lematical characterizations of Ada Lovelace—include The Difference Engine, All Men
of Genius, The Lazarus Machine, Angelmaker, and The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace
and Babbage. In Chapter 9, Catherine Siemann examines fictional depictions of Ada
Lovelace at the center of social concerns in The Difference Engine and All Men of Genius,
respectively, first- and second-wave steampunk novels published twenty years apart.
Both novels, according to Siemann, echo their Victorian forebears as social critiques
of speculative science and the involvement of gender. Ultimately, Siemann argues, the

formed a general consensus to name the language to honor Ada. Correspondence from 1978 between
U.S. defense officials and Ada’s direct descendent, the Earl of Lytton, is reprinted in William A.
Whittaker, “ADA—the project: the DoD high order language working group,” in Thomas J. Bergin,
Jr. and Richard G. Gibson, Jr., eds., History of Programming Languages—II (New York: Association for
Computing Machiney, 1996), 173–232.
6. For a recent overview, see John Barnes, Programming in Ada 2012 (Cambridge University Press,
2014).
 Chapter 1 Introduction 5

novels reveal our own cautionary or optimistic preoccupations with gender and tech-
nology while demonstrating Lovelace’s increasing importance as a cultural figure.
Ada is now a touchstone of the digital age. Three chapters in the final section, “Ada’s
Legacy in the Digital Age,” illustrate the depth and diversity of scholarship, art, and
activism that Ada’s life and legacy have inspired. In Chapter 10, Amy Cunningham
describes and documents her Oracle project, a “video song cycle” which features a
mix of soprano voice and high definition video.7 Inspired by the critical and analytical
cadences of Ada’s work, Oracle utilizes off-screen, disembodied singing that evokes
an awareness of her position across the margins and boundaries that surrounded her.
In Chapter 11, Jenny Ungbha Korn applies the conceptual tools of analytical fem-
inism and muted group theory to explore how gender manifested within PLATO, a
pioneering virtual community of the 1970s. Korn’s discussion of the dynamics of on-
line collaboration resonates with the collaborative group dynamics at work in the Ada
programming language (Chapters 4–6), as well as in online communities that emerged
with the adoption of the World Wide Web. In contrast to the earlier chapters, however,
Korn utilizes a critical feminist approach to emphasize “the structural and patriarchal
features of PLATO discourse that marginalized interactions by underrepresented pop-
ulations.” Korn’s feminist analysis provides a fascinating contrast to Cunningham’s
artistic approach, thus highlighting the fluid and flexible nature of Ada’s legacy: where
Cunningham’s work provides beautiful, haunting echoes of Ada’s voice, Korn’s work
reminds us of the social circumstances that muffle and silence female voices.8
In the 21st century, Ada’s is a significantly feminist legacy. In 2009, Suw Charman-
Anderson created Ada Lovelace Day to draw attention to women who excel in tech-
nology. Ada Lovelace Day started with blog posts, but has since grown to include
newspaper columns, global media coverage, a Wikipedia edit-a-thon, events to build
Android apps and video games, and other grassroots events in Europe, North and
South America, and, of course, in cyberspace.9
Ada’s legacy in the digital age also lives on in the Ada Initiative—an organization
co-founded by Valerie Aurora and Mary Gardner in January 2011. The Ada Initiative
strives to “serve the interests and needs of women in open technology and culture who

7. Amy Cunningham, Oracle, HD video and stereo sound, 12 minutes, color, dimensions variable,
2012. [Extract available on vimeo: vimeo.com/amycunningham/oracle]
8. For related studies, see Jane Margolis and Allen Fisher, Unlocking the Clubhouse: Women in Com-
puting (MIT Press, 2003); Thomas J. Misa, ed., Gender Codes: Why Women are Leaving Computing
(Wiley-IEEE Computer Press, 2010); and Janet Abbate, Recoding Gender: Women’s Changing Partici-
pation in Computing (MIT Press, 2012).
9. “History of Ada Lovelace Day,” http://findingada.com/about/history-of-ada-lovelace-day/ (visited
June 28, 2015).
6 Chapter 1 Introduction

are at the intersection of multiple forms of oppression, including disabled women,

women of color, LBTQ women, and women from around the world.” Its activities help
men and women develop practical skills for supporting women in open technology
and to improve working environments for women. Additionally, its leadership makes
frequent public and media appearances for National Public Radio, Wikimania, and
many other outlets.10
Ada’s Legacy concludes with Valerie Aurora’s “Rebooting the Ada Lovelace Mythos.”
This chapter is an adaptation from Aurora’s keynote lecture delivered at the 2013 con-
ference on Ada Lovelace held at Stevens Institute of Technology. Aurora recalls the
many incarnations of Lovelace, from her identity as Byron’s only legitimate child to
her iconic status for women in STEM fields. Overall, Aurora suggests, the story of Ada
Lovelace as arguably the first computer programmer is more complex and multidi-
mensional than it has been represented to date—a similar conclusion to that drawn
by Thomas Misa in the first chapter of this volume. Aurora’s purpose is not merely to
comment (which she does with great insight) on the longstanding contest over Ada’s
depiction in popular culture and by biographers. Aurora also highlights two defin-
ing issues for Ada’s legacy in the 21st century—the debate over Ada’s contributions
to computer programming, and Ada’s position as an icon for women in computing.
Aurora concludes by exhorting us to draw from Ada’s life and legacy as inspiration for
new stories of our own imaginations.
Ada’s iconic status now resonates throughout and around cultures of computing.
Her presence in the 21st century persists explicitly in a wide variety of scholarship,
including literature, cultural studies, and the peer-reviewed periodical launched in
2012 titled Ada: A Journal of Gender, New Media & Technology.11 More recently, Ada
appears in the opening and closing chapters of Walter Isaacson’s The Innovators, and
as a protagonist in Sydney Padua’s graphic novel The Thrilling Adventures of Babbage
and Lovelace.12 Padua’s characterization of Ada Lovelace is emblematic of her iconic
status in the 21st century and the recent presence of Ada in the comics medium has
widened the reach of her legacy to untold multitudes. The cartoon Ada is pictured

10. Ada Initiative, “What We Do,” https://adainitiative.org/about-us (visited June 30, 2015).
11. Ellen Moll, “A Network or a Line? Gender, Technology, and Cyberfeminist Figurations of Time,”
Rhizomes: Cultural Studies in Emerging Knowledge 26 (2014), available from http://www.rhizomes.net/
issue26/moll.html (visited June 25, 2015); Elizabeth Ho, Neo-Victorianism and the Memory of Empire
(Bloomsbury, 2014).
12. Walter Isaacson, The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital
Revolution (Simon & Schuster, 2014); Sydney Padua, The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage:
The (Mostly) True Story of the First Computer (Pantheon, 2015).
 Chapter 1 Introduction 7

and personified by Padua in exclusive drawings for the cover of this volume and in the
head pages for each section. We are doubly pleased that select chapters in this volume
introduce discussions of Thrilling Adventures to Ada scholarship.
The chapters in this volume illustrate key aspects of Ada’s legacy, which expansively
includes collaboration, feminism, technical excellence, creativity, and controversy.
We hope that Ada’s Legacy is not the final word on Ada’s persistence in cultures of
computing across the disciplines. Indeed, we are optimistic that the most compelling
and generative aspects of Ada’s legacy are still to come.