International Programmers' Day

It’s International Programmers’ Day! Today we celebrate the people who create the software behind our favorite websites, digital gadgets, appliances, and vehicles. Programmers (also known as developers or software engineers) write the code that runs our computers. There are many different types of computer languages and most programmers specialize in one of these. Facebook, for example, is primarily built using “PHP,” while Punchbowl uses “Ruby.” 

Although women hold only 25% of all professional IT jobs in the U.S., the first programmer in history was a British countess named Ada Lovelace. She was a mathematician and wrote the first algorithm intended for a computer.

To celebrate the occasion, say hello to your favorite programmer, try your hand at coding, or read up about all the amazing innovations that have come from programmers!