December 10, 1980 - Ada and the Department of Defense

“In 1974 there was a proposal by military for a common high-order computer language” (Toole). The first version of this language was called Strawman (like the fallacy). The second version named Woodenman was ready in 1975, and in 1978, they chose a winning language.

On December 10, 1980, the DOD named the language “‘Ada’ in her honor'”(Toole) and the United States Department of Defense trademarked the name. “The DOD Military Standard for the language, “MIL-STD-1815,” was given the number of the year of her birth” (Deffree).

Ada is still used today and “the programming has been used in high-integrity/safety-critical/high-security domains including commercial and military aircraft avionics, air traffic control, railroad systems, and medical devices” (Taranovich).