The ENIAC was programmed by rewiring the machine, instruction by instruction, tedious work carried out mostly by women working for the U.S. Ordnance Office. The machine was intended for use in the calculation of ballistics trajectories for the big guns of World War II.  It was ready a bit late for that, but nonetheless was an immensely significant achievement on Eckert and Mauchly’s part.  Such a shame they neglected to recognize Atanasoff’s contribution to their endeavors.

The lady programmers were known as computers, for a while at least…..