How the concept of software was invented

 You are going to read an article about a woman who invented the concept of computer software. six paragraphs have been removed from the extract. Choose from the paragraphs A-G the one which fits each gap (41-46). There is one extra paragraph which you do not need to use.

How the concept of software was invented

 

In 1842, more than a century before the start of the information age, in a brilliant flash of penetrating insight, Ada Lovelace had a glimpse of the future. She saw that with suitable modifications, Charles Babbage's proposed Analytical Engine would be capable of much more than its intended purpose of simple mathematical calculation.

 

Ada Lovelace was born in London in 1815, the daughter of the poet Byron. She never met her father: her parents separated a month after her birth , he left England four months later and eventually died abroad. Her upbringing was unusual for the period , in that her mother was determined she should have a thorough grounding in logic, mathematics and the sciences. To that end, Ada was províded with a succession of tutors.

 

41.- _____

 

Among their number was the mathematician, philosopher, inventor and Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, Charles Babbage, one of several people credited with being 'the father of the computer'. His importance líes in the fact that he invented several devices which paved the way for modern computers. Lovelace was introduced to him while still in her late teens, and soon afterwards visited his workshop to see his 'Difference Engine'.

 

42.- _____

 

The device was incomplete, weighed over a ton and was not yet working. Despite these limitations, Lovelace grasped its true significance; whereas Babbage saw it purely being used to increase the accuracy of mathematical processes, it was Lovelace who saw its far greater potential.

 

43.- _____

 

At this event, Babbage described his proposal for a more advanced computing machine, his Analytical Engine. A mathematician who was present subsequently wrote up the ideas in a memoir in French, and Babbage asked Lovelace to translate it. Because she understood the machine so well, at his request she added a comprehensive set of notes to her translation, much longer than the memoir itself. It was these notes that have established her importance in the development of computers.

 

44.- _____

 

In this insight , she anticipated the development of both modern computing and artificial intelligence by more than a hundred years. Again, she saw that the Analytical Engine could be used to do much more than even Babbage perceived.

 

45.- _____

 

The memoir, and Lovelace's notes, attracted little attention at the time, but that does not detract from her achievement, the essence of which is that she grasped how to create physical instances of wholly abstract concepts. In any computer, it is the software which gives the hardware the ability to perform its wonders, a totally new, and very strange, idea for the time.

 

46.- _____

 

Although her insight is astonishing, that is not all that Lovelace should be remembered for. She also demonstrated beyond any possibility of doubt that women could attain the highest levels of scientific understanding and achievement - something that seemed remarkable in her lifetime. She helped to blaze a trail for later generations of women to become scientists.

 

A.-

Neither this prototype nor his later devices were completed in his lifetime, although working versions have since been built. However, his efforts to construct them aroused widespread interest, particularly when he attended a scientific conference in Italy and presented his work.

 

B.-

Of course, the same could be said of many scientists: Leonardo da Vinci, for instance, designed flying F machines several centuries before they became a reality, but at least he had the advantage of having seen birds flying.

 

C.-

Unlike him, Lovelace realised that it could be set to execute any logically coherent sequence of instructions. This in ef1ect made her the world's first computer programmer, as she demonstrated in the document.

 

D.-

In them, as well as describing the revolutionary implications of Babbage's ideas, Lovelace wrote out the first computer program and made the sensational suggestion that such a device should be able to compose music if a suitable set of rules could be devised.

 

E.-

One of these was Augustus de Morgan, a leading mathematician of the time. De Morgan soon confirmed Ada's outstanding mathematical ability and, importantly, communicated his admiration to his scientific friends. As a result, long before women were eligible to study for degrees, Ada came to more than hold her own with the leading scientists of the day.

 

F.-

This realisation, that the right instructions could enormously increase the capabilities of the device, is extraordinary for such an early stage in the history of the computer. Lovelace could see beyond the relatively rudimentary nature of Babbage's machines to the immense possibilities opened up by programmable computers.

 

G.-

This mechanical calculator was Babbage's first invention. He, like others before him, had realised that logarithmic tables - at that time produced by human 'calculators', and notoriously full of errors - could be generated by machinery.

 

O’Dell, Felicity (2015) Advanced Trainer. 2^nd edition. Reading and Use of English Part 7 Test 6. Cambridge University Press: Dubai. Pages 182 and 183.