Grace Hopper

(1906-1992), Rear Admiral and an early computer programmer. Developer of the first compiler for a computer programming language.

• "Life was simple before World War II. After that, we had systems."
• "It's always easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission."
• "Nobody believed that I had a running compiler and nobody would touch it. They told me computers could only do arithmetic."

Quote about Grace Hopper

• On COBOL: "But Grace, then anyone will be able to write programs!"