Born for it

Nathan Ensmenger is a professor at Indiana University who has specialised in the social and historical aspects of computing. In his book "The Computer Boys Take Over", he explores the origins of our profession, and how programmers were first hired and trained: Little has yet been written about the silent majority of computer specialists, the vast armies of largely anonymous engineers, analysts, and programmers who designed and constructed the complex systems that make possible our increasingly computerized society. The title of the book is a reference to where it all started: With the "Computer Girls". The women programming the ENIAC -- one of the very first electronic, general purpose, digital computers -- are widely considered to be the first programmers. At the time, the word "programmer", or the concept of a program, did not even exist yet.