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Margaret Hamilton, NASA's lead developer for Apollo program, stands next to all the code she wrote by hand that took humanity to the moon in 1969

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[-] Kinglink@lemmy.world 100 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Man, I thought when we left Reddit shit was going to change?

First off, SHE didn't write all the code, she led a team (And probably wrote a decent chunk herself). It wasn't by hand it was on computers, no one writes computer code by hand, that's just blatantly a myth, even punch cards were normally done BY the computer, not "by hand".

Also something I've questioned before is if that's really "The source code" and not maybe 11 copies (There's 11 binders there) Though most reports from reputable sources say that's "Listings". AKA that's the logging, not the code itself. The code itself may be printed out but would be kept on Punch cards (Again printed by the computer, not by hand). And the final form was actually a rope. (no really)

The thing is the story of Margaret Hamilton (And in fact most programmers of the time) is incredible enough. But when you blatantly lie like this it actually diminishes her accomplishment because it's obviously false and people will tear it down or disbelieve it because it's blatant misinformation.

This is why I left Next Fucking Level, because it became misinformation and karma whoring. It became about the "Story" rather than the actual person/skill/talent/figure. But on Reddit the reason was because people wanted Karma. Shouldn't we have left the basement tier BS and lying behind as well?

[-] SilentMobius@lemmy.world 15 points 11 months ago

I don't know how old you are but when I was first introduced to programming in the early 80s all "source code" (Mostly basic and thus interpreted where program is the source code) was referred to as "listings" (this was when the main source of games were monthly magazines where you typed in a listing from a magazine and saved it to tape E.G.. The "Program listings" (as the Smithsonian calls them) seem to be print outs of the programs for verification purposes.

The process of entering was indeed handwritten, on specially printed sheets of paper that was then handed to a punchcard operator to create the cards (again according to the Smithsonian), But the stack of paper is clearly not those sheets as it is form-feed printer paper.

It is completely accurate that Margaret Hamilton lead a team, so while there are inaccuracies I'd say this not as much of a lie as just a combination of confused concepts,

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[-] phareous@lemmy.world 51 points 11 months ago

She didn’t write all of that, she had a team of programmers working under her

[-] SeaJ@lemm.ee 41 points 11 months ago

She was the first software engineer who was hired for the project and did write a good chunk of the code. She was more than someone who simply delegates and leads. Hell, she is the one who coined the term software engineer. She played a hell of a role in the history of software development. Let's not try to diminish that.

[-] RogueTyre@lemmy.fmhy.ml 31 points 11 months ago

He isn't trying to diminish but these misleading exaggerated titles are pretty annoying and confusing at times.

[-] SeaJ@lemm.ee 8 points 11 months ago

I agree that the title is misleading but simply saying she was the one directing the team without also mentioning that she absolutely did write a chunk of that is also misleading and diminishes her contribution to the code.

[-] Akulagr@lemmy.world 19 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Similar to what happened with the first image of a black hole. The whole thing was somehow attributed to one lady in the press. Turns out, it was a whole team of scientists working together to achieve that.

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[-] EmoDuck@sh.itjust.works 33 points 11 months ago

Really like her white and gold dress

[-] dopeshark@lemmy.world 8 points 11 months ago

Oh no, not again

[-] flambonkscious@sh.itjust.works 6 points 11 months ago

Beautifully, perfectly evil... Well, played, you devious swine!

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[-] qaz@lemmy.world 29 points 11 months ago

TIL

She invented the term "software engineering"

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[-] Iron_Lynx@lemmy.world 22 points 11 months ago

Imagine having to look for the missing semicolon in there.

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[-] witx@lemmy.world 19 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

And clickbait arrives on lemmy

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[-] lawrence@lemmy.world 17 points 11 months ago

This is the video of when she received the Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama: youtube.com/watch?v=X1PNp_YggAA

[-] rob_t_firefly@lemmy.world 9 points 11 months ago

In this ceremony he gives the award to Margaret Hamilton and also Grace Hopper. Both well deserved!

[-] HexesofVexes@lemmy.world 16 points 11 months ago

She wrote code without stack overflow for her job, and the code worked as intended. That alone is worthy of respect.

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[-] thawed_caveman@lemmy.world 14 points 11 months ago

None of you better call yourselves nerds, THIS is a nerd.

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[-] rob_t_firefly@lemmy.world 13 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

The "Women of NASA" Lego set includes a display of a minifig Margaret Hamilton based on this photo.

[-] Anarch157a@lemmy.world 12 points 11 months ago

Including comments on the code with expressions like "Crank the silly thing arround", "see if he's lying", "off to see the wizard" and a sub-routine called "burnbaby". More here: https://www.sciencealert.com/the-code-that-took-astronauts-to-the-moon-is-now-on-github

She's definitely a legend.

[-] coys25@lemmy.world 6 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

That is cool. There is really wild stuff in here, like in the landing guidance equations

		TC	BANKCALL	# TEMPORARY, I HOPE HOPE HOPE
		CADR	STOPRATE	# TEMPORARY, I HOPE HOPE HOPE
[-] Beardsley@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

If I was an Astronaut, I think I'd reconsider going up if someone told me there was even one "I Hope" in the math.

"Are you sure about that Margaret?"
"Who the fuck knows, Buzz, I'm doing my fucking best, okay?!"

[-] jafo@lemmy.world 10 points 11 months ago

Also worth remembering: The Apollo guidance computer had less compute power than a USB charger. That thing sent us to the moon. https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/a30916315/usb-c-charger-apollo-11-computer/

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[-] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 9 points 11 months ago

Wouldn't it have worked better if she wrote it into the computer? 🤔

[-] CitizenKong@lemmy.world 9 points 11 months ago

The title is a bit misleading, this is a printout of the code that she indeed wrote into the computer first.

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[-] Matthew@programming.dev 7 points 11 months ago

I know you're likely joking, but for those who don't know: back then, code was written onto and stored in paper punch cards.

[-] newline@feddit.nl 8 points 11 months ago

Such a legend! Every time I see this post I'm stunned by the impact she made

[-] fidelacchius@lemmy.world 7 points 11 months ago

I got a box to display right in css today. So I'm basically the same

[-] spirinolas@lemmy.world 6 points 11 months ago

Just like my ex. Her hand also sent all humanity to the Moon.

[-] hiramfromthechi@lemmy.world 6 points 11 months ago

Undisputed GOAT.

[-] jerkface@lemmy.ca 6 points 11 months ago

Sensible shoes.

[-] Marine_Mustang@lemmy.world 6 points 11 months ago

Google did a cool tribute in 2019: g.co/Margaretbymoonlight

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this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2023
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