Printing 'Hello, world' on-screen is the first thing we all learned to program. And sure enough: Fry was introduced to programming computers -- the ZX Spectrum -- when she was seven.

Fry, a University College London math professor, invites readers to examine how algorithms affect their lives. She guides her audience through understanding what algorithms are—“simply a ...

In addition to being the world's first computer programmer, Lovelace was the daughter of the Romantic poet Lord Byron, which allowed her to mingle with England's leading thinkers.