In autumn 2024 I was offered a chance to talk at AdaCon Norway. AdaCon are technical conferences that aim to “promote and empower underrepresented” groups from all backgrounds. The event is held on Ada Lovelace Day, which is the second Tuesday of October every year. The conference atmosphere was very warm, fresh and vibrating with life. The public was fantastic reacting with humor and enthusiasm. I also realized how much time it takes to prepare for a talk. Even a short 10-15 min tech talk that seems so effortless- its weeks of preparations and hours of practice talks. Not to mention having a nerve to stand up in from of 200 tech-savvy public and cameras registering smallest possible mistake.

Ada Lovelace is believed to be one of first programmers. She is commonly attributed with invention of for loop. But to fully appreciate her contribution – I would encourage you to study her diagram for the computation of Bernoulli numbers – the diagram published in times, when Charles Babbage difference engine was still a “work in progress”. See also Note-G article.