Captain Grace M. Hopper: the Mother of COBOL

By Vicki Porter Adams

When Captain Grace M. Hopper put her pack of Lucky Strikes (they
still make them) on the table as she prepared for an interview,
the assembled journalists felt that this would be a different
type of question-and-answer session. It was.

Captain Hopper, 74, inventor, mathematician, teacher and computer
expert, is on active duty with the United States Navy. She is
called "The Mother of COBOL."

After talking to Hopper, you understand why she contributed so
much to the computer industry. She is never satisfied with the way
things are; she is eternally curious — an American pioneer.

In 1943, armed with a PhD from Yale, teaching experience and work
at the Applied Physics Lab at Harvard, she joined the Navy. She
was appointed to the pilot group assigned to analyze the
Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator (ENIAC), the
machine that was modified to become the first North American Air
Defense computer.

- "" "By not adopting—or following—standards, the Federal
government spends $450 million a year converting computer
programs."

Hopper was then assigned to work on the Univac Mark I, to help
"tame the monster" as she puts it. Recognizing that progress was
slow because operating instructions had to be repeated for each
run, Hopper used her abundant common sense to devise a solution to
the problem. She prestored the steps most prone to human error in
the computer. This was the birth of compilers.

Hopper, after working with computers for 40 years, thinks, "The
computer industry today is about where the Model-T was when it was
developed. When I was a child, Henry Ford came along and invented
a car everyone could have—as long as they wanted it black.
That's where we are today. The very beginning of mass use of the
computer. We haven't even begun to exploit its potential."

Captain Hopper is one of the first members of the U.S.
data-processing community to recognize the value of using
computers in the areas of predicting weather patterns, managing
energy resources, increasing agricultural output and generally
contributing solutions to the many long-range problems Americans
must solve.

Largest Industry

"Computers will be, if they aren't already, the largest industry
in the country," declares Captain Hopper. The data-processing
industry will replace automobiles and construction as the mainstay
of the American economy."

- "" "The computer industry today is about where the Model-T was
when it was developed."

When asked how expanding Japanese semiconductor production and
Japanese activities in programming may affect American industry,
she replied, "The American people have imagination and creativity.
Nobody else possesses these traits as we do. I think it has
something to do with the fact that we all came here from somewhere
else. Many of our families were down and out. The American people
have always had to think a little harder and do a little better to
prove themselves. That's why we don't really have to worry about
anyone else. Whatever we want to do, we can do.

"But let's not mismanage it," she continued. "Right now we're in
the business of collecting information. No one has really analyzed
the total flow of information. What is most important? Is it Joe's
two hours of overtime, or is it a nuclear power plant that might
blow up if we don't change a valve setting? We have not correctly
addressed that.

"We haven't researched the value of information or the cost of
incorrect information—or even which information gets priority.
It is my experience that the senior squeaking wheel gets the top
priority."

She offered an anecdote about the origin of the term "debug." "In
1945, while working in a World War I vintage non-air-conditioned
building on a hot, humid summer day, the computer stopped. We
searched for the problem and found a failing relay—one of the
big signal relays. Inside, we found a moth that had been beaten to
death. We pulled it out with tweezers and taped it to the log
book. From then on, when the officer came in to ask if we were
accomplishing anything, we told him we were 'debugging the
computer."

Captain Hopper thinks standards have been neglected. "By not
adopting — or following — standards, the Federal government
spends $450 million a year converting computer programs. A real
waste of money," she pointed out. "Of course, data-processing
people won't obey formulas or follow standards anyway," she added.

Computer Future

Captain Hopper's strongest conviction about the future growth of
the computer industry is her faith in the curiosity and
imagination of the young and their acceptance of computers.

She admits that she may not consider age a factor in anything.
When she was 40 and women were allowed to enlist in the regular
Navy, they told her she was "too old." She says, "When someone
tells you you're too old at 40, you get over the trauma. You never
have to worry about age again." (Incidentally, the Navy called her
back after she retired from Univac when she was over 60.)

She contends, "Kids know what's happening. They're up on the
technology. Lots of bright youngsters aren't hampered by 'we've
always done it this way; 'it won't work' or 'I've never heard of
it."

She thinks the media contribute to the fears of people outside the
industry. "What do we see in the newspapers?" she asks. "Computers
will eliminate jobs. Computers will take over the world.

"Computers can't take over," she asserts. "We can always pull the
plug!"

Finally, addressing the matter of the shortage of programmers and
other computer people, Captain Hopper said, "Yes, there is a
tremendous shortage, particularly in the area of system design.
The schools and colleges aren't meeting the needs of the industry.
The kids need hands-on time, and the teachers have to know how to
operate and efficiently use computers. Apple is doing a good job
of training teachers. Others must take up the effort "

Image: Grace M. Hopper: computer pioneer (Photo courtesy U.S. Navy)

October 5, 1981 - Infoworld, pg. 33

(OCR-ed for accessibility purposes)