Margaret Hamilton oral history (2017)

computerhistory.org

53 points·sohkamyung··7 comments

Ah! Gold!

I found Hamilton's work described in a book “System Design from Provably Correct Constructs” https://archive.org/details/systemdesignfrom00mart many years ago. You build something like an Abstract Syntax Tree using operations that preserve certain correctness properties, thus eliminating many categories of bugs. It grew out of her work on Apollo 11.

She's credited with coining the term "software engineering".

This is a much better link, with images and video:

https://computerhistory.org/blog/margaret-hamilton-in-her-ow...

Full 3 hour interview: https://youtu.be/6bVRytYSTEk

Only a much better link if you don't like to read.

The linked PDF is a rich, dense 47 page transcript.

The blog post has a few pictures and maybe a page of text, along with clips from the interview.

I really enjoyed the story in the transcript, as well as the side-story about Ellen Fetter.

[Side Story]: https://www.wired.com/story/these-hidden-women-helped-invent...

I simply meant "better" as in more complete - it has links to other sources, pics, video, a summary and a link to the original document above. However, the page above does not link back the other way though, so I was trying to save someone a search.

Is Margaret Hamilton related to Alexander Hamilton?

I'm up to page 30 (of 47) and I'm thinking, wow, someone should really make a movie based on this woman's life and career, at least up until the moon landings.

She has her own LEGO Minifigure!

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