The Economic Times

In 1843, a 27-year-old woman wrote first-ever computer program. Mentored by Charles Babbage, her work still inspires modern technology nearly 200 years later

Ada Lovelace, a visionary ahead of her time, imagined programmable machines long before electronic computers came into being. In 1843, she published the first-ever set of instructions for Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine. Lovelaces genius lay in her belief that computers could manage not only numbers but also symbols and music, a legacy that continues to shape modern computing principles.