Picture a girl, we usually call her a computress, using a desk calculator. Suppose we had given her a sheet of paper containing several columns of numbers and suppose further we had given her a set of written instructions directing her to sum each column of numbers and then to divide each sum by the number of entries in its column so as to find the average of each column, and finally to enter this value below the appropriate column. Notice that the computress in this task performs […]

Programming can be considered as being similar to writing instructions for a girl who is working with a desk calculator. The analogy becomes exact if you assume that such a computress has the virtues of being very quick, of never making mistakes, and following instructions perfectly—and that she has the glaring defect of being incapable of thinking.

Compare this with today when a programmer performs the task once for all and the computress performs a single-hand computation which is sufficient for all. Then our computers, large willing slaves, unerringly and without complaint produce all the answers you are willing to pay for.

When they began using computers, their classification changed from computress to the more esteemed title of programmer. Computing expertise diffused throughout the company wherever it was needed. This arrangement, which differed markedly from what evolved in most commercial establishments, and even in some other research labs, sprang directly from the historically collaborative environment of Bell Labs.

The female computers worked in a separate lab, or at least in a separated part of the room. […] During their rare exchanges, though, the men often referred to them as ‘computresses.’]

Computress

Meaning

Noun