Free Knowledge Culture Calendar/March 7

Today in 1917 the computing pioneer Betty Holberton was born. She was responsible for much of the software for the UNIVAC system and created its C-10 instruction code, the first mnemonic code and mother of all modern programming languages. She went on to work on the programming language COBOL and was the driving force behind the standardization of FORTRAN. Grace Hopper called her the best programmer she ever knew. She also invented breakpoints for computer debugging, developed an early precursor to today’s compilers (her Sort Merge Generator), and was perhaps the first computer musician.