Grace Hopper

"We must include in any language with which we hope to describe complex data-processing situations the capability for describing data. We must also include a mechanism for determining the priorities to be applied to the data. These priorities are not fixed and are indicated in many cases by the data. Thus we must have a language and a structure that will take care of the data descriptions and priorities, as well as the operations we wish to perform. If we think seriously about these problems, we find that we cannot work with procedures alone, since they are sequential. We need to define the problem instead of the procedures. The Language Structures Group of the Codasyl Committee has been studying the structure of languages that can be used to describe data-processing problems. The Group started out by trying to design a language for stating procedures, but soon discovered that what was really required was a description of the data and a statement of the relationships between the data sets. The Group has since begun writing an algebra of processes, the background for a theory of data processing. Clearly, we must break away from the sequential and not limit the computers. We must state definitions and provide for priorities and descriptions of data. We must state relationships, not procedures."

"From then on, when anything went wrong with a computer, we said it had bugs in it."

"At present, we're putting on paper a lot of stuff that never needed to be on paper. We do need to keep the records. But there isn't any reason for printing them. The next generation growing up with the computers will change that."

"I handed my passport to the immigration officer, and he looked at it and looked at me and said, "What are you?""

"In total desperation, I called over to the engineering building, and I said, "Please cut off a nanosecond and send it over to me.""

"At the end of about a week, I called back and said, "I need something to compare this to. Could I please have a microsecond?""

"There's something you learn in your first boot-camp, or training camp: If they put you down somewhere with nothing to do, go to sleep — you don't know when you'll get any more."

"I had a running compiler and nobody would touch it. ... they carefully told me, computers could only do arithmetic; they could not do programs."

"I've always been more interested in the future than in the past."

"I've received many honors and I'm grateful for them; but I've already received the highest award I'll ever receive, and that has been the privilege and honor of serving very proudly in the United States Navy."

"[The Computer] was the first machine man built that assisted the power of his brain instead of the strength of his arm."

"They're going right to building them bigger and bigger and faster and faster. They'd do much better to build a system of computers and have them operate in parallel. We'd get much more done, faster. (…) My analogy is that back in the early days of this country, when they moved heavy objects around, they didn't have any Caterpillar tractors and they didn't have any big cranes. They used oxen. And when they got a great, big log on the ground and one ox couldn't move it, they didn't try to grow a bigger ox. They used two oxen."

"It's just like planning a dinner. You have to plan ahead and schedule everything so it's ready when you need it. Programming requires patience and the ability to handle detail. Women are 'naturals' at computer programming."

"Life was simple before World War II. After that, we had systems."

"Humans are allergic to change. They love to say, "We've always done it this way." I try to fight that. That's why I have a clock on my wall that runs counter-clockwise."

"We're flooding people with information. We need to feed it through a processor. A human must turn information into intelligence or knowledge. We've tended to forget that no computer will ever ask a new question."

"You manage things, you lead people. We went overboard on management and forgot about leadership. It might help if we ran the MBAs out of Washington."

"The wonderful thing about standards is that there are so many of them to choose from."

"The most dangerous phrase in the language is 'We've always done it this way!'"."

"Unsourced: One accurate measurement is worth a thousand expert opinions."

"A ship in port is safe; but that is not what ships are built for. Sail out to sea and do new things."

"If in doubt – do it."

"This saying has been in print already 1957, in Gerald Kershs "Fowler's End", p. 23."

"To me programming is more than an important practical art. It is also a gigantic undertaking in the foundations of knowledge."

"It's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission."

"But Grace, then anyone will be able to write programs!"

"Admiral Hopper, ... is the first woman to receive America's highest technology award as an individual. The award recognizes her as a computer pioneer, who spent a half century helping keep America on the leading edge of high technology."

"It's easier to ask forgiveness than permission."