The NSA has dropped two videos of internal lectures by Rear Admiral (then Captain) Grace Hopper from 1982:

• Future Possibilities: Data, Hardware, Software, and People Pt. I
• Future Possibilities: Data, Hardware, Software, and People Pt. II

You might know her as a groundbreaking computer scientist, author of the first compiler, inventor of COBOL, and for documenting the first “real” computer bug (a moth caught in a relay of the Mark II computer).

I always thought she also coined the term, but it turns out that “bug” has been used way earlier to denote a small mistake or design flaw. Anyhow, in my not-quite-factual history of Teletext in 420 Years of Teletext I credited her for the invention of programming bugs:

When drawing that little Teletext portrait I made sure to include her Navy hat which she is wearing in practically all photos you can find of her. Apparently that’s not a coincidence, she references it at the start of the lecture:

And if you’re wondering why I kept my cap on, I had a reason for that, too. It’s because this is my identifier.

And adds:

I hope you all know by now that every record in a computer system must have an identifier.

Heh, heh… Turns out Ms Hopper was quite the entertainer and a captivating presenter, and had a lot of innovative musings and some rebellious stories to share. Some random tidbits:

• Cars vs. transportation = computers vs. information flow (part one, 4:39)
• Story of the bug (17:51)
• “If anyone of you says ‘But we’ve always done it that way!’ I will instantly materialize behind you and I will haunt you for 24 hours” (25:14)
• Mark I computer referred to as “she” (32:55)
• “Common sense […] seems to be the last thing we use in connection with computers” (45:08)
• Easier to ask for forgiveness later, early computer hackers and security concepts, seperation of data by confidentiality level, systems of computers with specialized servers, interfaces and modularization, the cost of not doing something… – just watch the lecture already! :)

10/10, would watch again.