This entailed switching around by hand ENIAC's rat's nest of cables and resetting its switches. At first the programming seemed to be a routine, perhaps even menial task, which may have been why it was relegated to women, who back then were not encouraged to become engineers. But what the women of ENIAC soon showed, and the men later came to understand, was that the programming of a computer could be just as significant as the design of its hardware.
Programming the ENIAC involved a complex process of manually rearranging cables and resetting switches, which initially seemed like a simple task. This perception led to the assignment of programming duties to women, who were largely discouraged from pursuing engineering roles at the time. However, these women demonstrated that programming was not just a routine task but an essential component of computer operation.
As the significance of programming became clearer, it was recognized that it held equal importance to hardware design. This shift in understanding marked a pivotal moment in the evolution of computer science, breaking down gender barriers and reshaping the field’s landscape, as highlighted in Walter Isaacson’s book, "The Innovators."
