Ada Lovelace was the first to recognize that Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine had applications beyond pure calculation, and created the first algorithm intended to be carried out by such a machine. She is regarded as the first computer programmer.

Jean Bartik was one of the original programmers for the ENIAC computer. She and her colleagues developed and codified many of the fundamentals of programming. 

Grace Hopper was a pioneer of computer programming, helping to develop the UNIVAC and popularizing the idea of machine-independent programming languages, which led to the development of COBOL.

Margaret Hamilton is an American computer scientist and led the team which developed on-board flight software for the Apollo space program.