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January 2, 2017
Dear Admiral Grace Hopper,
I am a 6
th
grader living in Michigan and like you, I love math and computer
programming. After having a beginner's lesson on computer programming from my
brother, I started on line lessons in Khan Academy and that was when I first saw your
name. In fact, Khan Academy recognized you as one of the first computer
programmers and named one of their avatars, Hopper the beaver, after you. It was
intriguing to know that you worked on coding for the US navy and accomplished many
things. I also happened to learn binary systems, which seemed like a tedious way to write.
So, it was really nice that you helped establish a system to let programmers just use 'if-then
statements' instead of binary code. Yale University website link captures your
perseverance and determination in the most fitting way, "When she recommended that an
entire programming language be developed using English words, however, she "was told
very quickly that [she] couldn't do this because computers didn't understand English." Only
after three years was her idea finally accepted; she published her first compiler paper in
1952." All these efforts finally resulted in the development of the popular computer
language COBOL. We are thankful to you for making 'computer coding' easier.
Your interest in gadgets started when you were little, with alarm clocks. Do you
remember that you took apart seven alarm clocks before your mom realized? It was nice of
your mother to let you play with one of them. I wonder if you ever put the six alarm clocks
that your mom took away back together. Later you went on to work on computers Mark I,
Mark II, and Mark III. Did you ever get tired of the name Mark?
According to biography.com, you received "the National Medal of Technology in
1991-becoming the first female individual recipient of the honor," in addition to winning
the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, and IEEE Emanuel R.
Piore Award in 1988, and most recently, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016. I also
noticed that there is an award named after you, Grace Murray Hopper Award, for people
who make an impactful, technical or service related contribution at the age 35 or younger.
..
..
Congratulations on becoming a Rear Admiral and getting a missile destroyer, USS Hopper,
named after you.
Some of your quotes are now famous. My favorite is, "a ship in port is safe, but this
is not what ships are built for. Sail out to sea and do new things." This inspires me to try
new things. Even though math and computer science are my favorite subjects, I always
wonder what will I be when I grow up. Did you like math when you were little? Did you
ever want to be anything else?
You might want to know that "debugging" is now a common term used by people all
around the world, though people now usually don't use it to refer to the fact that they need
to take a moth out of their computers. I have seen pictures of Mark computers that you had
worked on. Those were humongous. Now computers are way smaller and we even have
laptops and portable computers. Have you ever seen a computer notebook!? What will you
think if you see an I pad! All these have been possible because of people like you who took
the risks, sailed out to do new things, and made the impossible possible and the
unthinkable thinkable. Thank you!
Sincerely,
Riya
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A tribute to Rear Admiral Dr. Grace Murray Hopper (born 1908 passed away 1992):
Conditional statement: If you have ever used a computer or programmed using 'if-then
statements' or FLOW-MATIC coding, then thank Grace Murray Hopper. Truth value - True.
By conditional statement: If and only if you have used a computer programmed using 'if-then
statements' or FLOW-MATIC coding, then thank Grace Murray Hopper. Truth value - False.
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