• EhList@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Women were not the backbone of computer engineering. They were the ones who did the computing before we had machines that could do so quickly.

    Engineering refers to designing the components and while some women have contributed to this field the overwhelming of the design of parts has been done by men.

    • tiredOfFascists@reddthat.com
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      1 year ago

      So you learned enough about the history of computing to make claims like this, but not enough to know that practically all the first programmers were female and some even pioneered theory, techniques, and languages? For example Grace Hopper, who you are erasing from history here.

      I call bullshit. Either you purposely ignore these facts, or your sexism prevented them from being remembered when you learned them.

      • ElmAndYew@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Don’t forget Ada Lovelace, the first computer engineer and the namesake of the Ada programming language.

        • nomadjoanne@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          She was a okay mathematician that did indeed “get” Babbages nonexistent machine (I forgot the name of it, analytic engine?). She wrote incredibly simple software for it. Who knows what she would have accomplished if she had a proper computer, but she didn’t and we’ll never know.

          In the immediate Postwar years there were indeed some gifted women in the field, but they were never the majority.

      • EhList@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        My point is that engineering us a specific job with a specific definition and the ENGINEEERS were not all women.

        I never said anything about any other aspect of computing so the rest of your post is just a straw man you added for no reason.

        • tiredOfFascists@reddthat.com
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          1 year ago

          There is a reason several people have pointed out facts to you. You clearly want to deny the fact that women were very much a part of computer ENGINEERING

          • EhList@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            No Im denying they were the MAJORITY of computer engineers. This is an easily verifiable fact. You can look it up with the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

            • tiredOfFascists@reddthat.com
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              1 year ago

              You’re just being pedantic. Women were extremely pivotal in the creation of computing [insert more specific subfields if you want, doesn’t change anything]. Your comments certainly all read as refuting this. It’s not controversial to the non-incel community.

              • EhList@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                Im only talking about computer engineering no other aspect of computing. It only seems like Im being pedantic because it has taken you this long to realize the point I have been making from the start which to be clear is entirely uncontroversial in history circles.

                • tiredOfFascists@reddthat.com
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                  1 year ago

                  Oh so then perhaps you can link to these 1940-1960 statistics that somehow neatly and consistently segmented out computing roles into easy to define categories despite the fact that it was a new field and the lines between subfields were and always have been changing? Got a link handy?

    • over_clox@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Grace Hopper literally invented the first software compiler.

      If you dismiss software engineering as a form of engineering, then you have no qualifications to be an engineer and no business even commenting.

      • EhList@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Im not denying that some women played a part. Im objecting to the claim they were the majority. They were not the MAJORITY

        • over_clox@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          The original post didn’t say the word ‘majority’. I did not say the word ‘majority’. Hell, you didn’t even say the word ‘majority’, until that last comment I’m responding to anyways.

          You said the word ‘backbone’. Well, when you think about it, aren’t compilers like the backbone of software engineering?

          You’re not gonna get very far writing your new fancy game by manually flipping all the bits one by one with a panel of switches, you need a compiler.

        • Honytawk@lemmy.zip
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          1 year ago

          Why do you think the human computers weren’t the majority of people creating the first electronic computers?

    • nomadjoanne@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Yeah very true, and credit where credit is due. The majority of “computers”, when that was a job title, were women who were very good at running quick calculations.

          • EhList@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Wouldn’t that be the next most accurate term since we took their job title and applied to to a machine?

            • nomadjoanne@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              In my book mathematician implies someone who studies mathematics academically. Not someone who performs calculations for their job. By no means am I downplaying these women. In fact I’m certain they could do a lot of this stuff quicker than many or all academics.

              Ada Lovelace, who was mentioned in one of these comments as the first programmer, was a proper mathematician.