24 Most Fascinating Programming Facts (Backed by Statistics)

Programming has a rich and fascinating history filled with fun anecdotes and interesting facts.

Whether you have been in programming for a while or you are just starting out, you will be surprised by how much there is to know about programming.

Do you know, for example,

• Why were early women programmers thought to be refrigerator ladies?
• Why A.I could replace coders?
• Which countries have the best programmers?
• Which was the first digital currency?
• How JavaScript got its name?

If you are curious about these facts and more, stick around. I will explore interesting data-driven trivia, facts, and statistics on many aspects of programming.

Whether you want to test your programming knowledge, geek out on statistics, or learn some interesting facts, you will find something for you.

Interesting coding facts and statistics

Let us dive into these fascinating facts.

1. The world’s first programmer was a woman with an interesting past

According to some historians, the first programmer was a woman named Ada King Lovelace.

She wrote the first code in 1883 when she translated a memoir of the Italian mathematician Luigi Menabrea about Charles Babbage’s, Analytical Engine. In the supplementary notes of the memoir, she included a method of calculating Bernoulli numbers using the Analytical Engine. ^[1]

Here are some interesting facts about Ada Lovelace.

• She was a countess. She married William King in 1835 and when he was made the 1^st Earl of Lovelace in 1838, she became the countess of Lovelace. ^[1]
• Her father was the famous poet Lord Byron. Ada was the only legitimate daughter of English poet and peer, George Gordon Byron. Her parents separated a month after she was born and she never got to know him.
• She had an affair with her tutor when she was 18 and tried to elope with him.
• She loved gambling. She even created a mathematical model for predicting successful large bets. However, this failed and she accumulated huge debts.
• She died young. Ada died at the age of 36 from uterine cancer. She was buried next to her father.

If you are interested in Ada Lovelace’s story, you can read the book Enchantress of Numbers.

2. The world’s first programmable computer was developed by a 26-year-old in his parents’ living room

We all know the story of how Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs assembled the first versions of Apple 1 in Steve Jobs’s parents’ garage in 1976.

But did you know that the creator of the world’s first programmable computer did it in his parent’s living room over 80 years ago?

Konrad Zuse quit his boring job as a design engineer in an aircraft factory and started working on developing the world’s first programmable computer (the Z1) in 1936. ^[2]

At the age of 26, he did not have the money to fund the project so he asked his parents, his sister, and other well-wishers for help. Between 1936 and 1938, he worked in the living room of his parent’s apartment to create the Z1. ^{[2] [3]}

Here are a few interesting facts about the Z1 computer.

• It was an electrically driven mechanical calculator. ^[3]
• It was about 2 meters by 1.5 meters in size. It weighed about one tonne and consisted of about 20,000 parts.
• It was fully programmable using Boolean logic and binary floating point numbers.
• It executed instructions from a punched celluloid film.

3. The first modern programming language had a weird name

Konrad Zuse also created the world’s first modern programming language called Plankalkül.

Plankalkül is a German term for a formal system for planning. It comes from two words: Plan (for planning) and Kalkül (German for a formal system). ^[4]

Here are some quick facts about Plankalkül

• It was developed for Konrad Zuse’s Z3 computer which was the world’s first working programmable, fully automatic digital computer (completed in 1941). ^[4]
• Zuse started work on Plankalkül in 1939
• Zuse wrote a chess program in Plankalkül in 1942.

Although Plankalkül was the first programming language, it was not widely known and did not gain popularity because of the Second World War.

Instead, FORTRAN (Formula Translator) became the first widely used high-level programming language. It was invented in 1957 by John Backus and his team at IBM. Other early programming languages were: ^[5]

• Shortcode: 1949 (By John Mauchly)
• Autocode: 1952 (By Alick Glennie for the Mark 1 computer)
• FLOW-MATIC: 1955 (By Grace Hopper)
• FORTRAN: 1957 (By John Backus and his team at IBM)

4. The first programmers were women and they were thought to be ‘refrigerator ladies’

In the 1940s, during the Second World War, the US Army needed people to solve complicated equations needed for aiming ballistic weapons. Since most men had gone to war, women were employed for the task.

To speed up the calculations, a computer called the ENIAC was developed. Six young women were employed to program the computer. They were Frances Holberton, Kathleen McNulty, Marlyn Wescoff, Ruth Lichterman, Frances Spence, and Jean Jennings. ^[6]

These women were some of the world’s first computer programmers but after the war, they were forgotten.

In the 1980s, a college student called Kathy Kleiman was researching the contribution of women in computer science when came across lots of photos of these women programmers posing next to the ENIAC. ^[6]

On inquiring who they were, she was told that they were probably ‘refrigerator ladies’– models who pose next to machines to make them look good. On doing a bit of digging, she discovered the story about the contribution of these women to computer programming.

5. Women make up only 20% of coders

Despite the early head start women got in programming, today they make up less than 20% of coders.

A 2022 survey by Developer Nation found that women coders made 17.4% compared to 81.7% for men. ^[7]

However, women have made significant contributions to the world of programming. Besides Ada Lovelace and the ENIAC programmers, other influential women coders include:

• Margaret Hamilton: She was instrumental in the development of the onboard flight software for NASA’s Apollo programs that were used during the moon landing. ^[8]
• Grace Hopper: She created a programming language called FLOW-MATIC and was also involved in the development of COBOL. ^[9]
• Evelyn Boyd Granville. She worked on various projects for the Apollo program, including celestial mechanics and trajectory computation. She was the second African-American woman to receive a Ph.D. in mathematics from an American university (Yale). ^[10]

6. The world’s wealthiest programmer started coding at the age of 10 years

Who is the world’s wealthiest programmer? If you guessed Elon Musk, then you are right.

Elon Musk became one of the richest men in history when his net worth reached US$306 billion in November 2021. Although his net worth has dropped recently, he is still the richest man in the world (as of November 2022). ^[11]

Musk taught himself to code as a 10-year-old and by the time he was 12, he had created a computer game called Blastar, which he sold for $500. ^[12]

In 1995 (at the age of 24), he created his first company, Zip2 together with his brother Kimball. Zip2 provided an online searchable business directory (the internet equivalent of the yellow pages). Compaq acquired Zip2 for $307 million in 1999 and Musk received $22 million from that sale. ^[12]

Since creating Zip2, Elon Musk has gone on to disrupt different industries such as finance/online payments (with X.com and PayPal), automotive (with Tesla), and space (with SpaceX).

7. A quarter of programmers learned to code before the age of 16

Elon Musk is not the only programmer to start young. In fact, a 2018 HackerRank survey of over 39,000 developers found that 4.8% of them learned to code between the ages of 5 and 10 years. Also, 1 in 4 (26%) learned to code before the age of 16. ^[14]

Currently, the youngest programmer is Kautilya Katariya of Northampton, U.K. He was certified by Guinness World Records at the age of 6 years and 346 days (on September 6, 2020). ^[15]

Kautilya (born on 27 September 2013) began coding at 5 and a half. He has received several certifications including five certifications in Python and AI from IBM. ^{[15], [16]}

8. Almost 40% of programmers are self-taught

According to a 2022 survey by Stack Overflow, only 62% of coders learned how to code in school (in college/university). This implies that the rest (38%), learned to code on their own. ^[16]

Below is a breakdown of how developers learned how to code. ^[17]

If you don’t have the money for an expensive CS degree, you can take advantage of affordable online learning platforms like Codeacademy, Edx, and Coursera to jump-start your coding career.

There are also plenty of free platforms such as freeCodeCamp, Khan Academy and W3C Schools.

9. There might be more programming languages than human languages

Estimates of the number of programming languages range from 8,945 (on the higher side) to 689 (on the low side).

Below are estimates of the number of programming languages from different sources.

• HOPL: 8,945 ^[18]
• 99 Bottles of Beer: 1,500 ^[19]
• Foldoc: 1,167 ^[20]
• Wikipedia: 689 ^[21]

If the higher estimates are to be believed, then this means that there are more programming languages than human languages. Estimates put the number of human languages at 7,100. ^[22]

10. China has the best programmers

According to research by HackerRank, China has the most talented developers (with a 100% score index) followed closely by Russia (with a 99.1% score index). ^[23]

Countries known for coding such as US and India were further down the list with the US at position 28 with a 78% score index and India at position 31 with a 76% score index.

Here are the top countries and their scores. ^[23]

1. China: 100%
2. Russia: 99.1%
3. Poland: 98%
4. Switzerland: 97.9%
5. Hungary: 93.9%

Chinese developers excelled at challenges involving mathematics, functional programming, and data structures while Russian developers dominated in algorithms.

How did HackerRank get its data?

HackerRank regularly posts coding challenges on their site and hundreds of thousands of developers from around the world participate. The developers are then scored and ranked based on a combination of their coding speed and accuracy.

11. Programmers are highly educated

The majority of professional programmers (80%) are highly educated and have at least a college degree. (StackOverflow, 2022) ^[17]

Roughly 20% have never been to college or went to college and dropped out (StackOverflow: 19.5% and freeCodeCamp: 22.4%) ^{[17] [24]}

What is even more surprising is that one in four programmers has a master’s degree or a Ph.D.

Below is a breakdown of the education qualifications of professional developers. ^[17]

• Primary/elementary school: 0.8%
• Secondary/high school: 6.3%
• College/university study without earning a degree: 12.4%
• Associate degree: 3.2%
• Bachelor’s degree: 47.9%
• Master’s degree: 23.95%
• Professional degree: 1.6%
• Doctoral degree (Ph.D., Ed.D.): 2.5%

12. A.I could soon replace professional coders

Google’s DeepMind has created an A.I called AlphaCode which is capable of writing code at a competitive level.^[25]

AlphaCode was tested against human programmers on Codeforces, a popular competitive programming site. It averaged a ranking of 54.3%, performing better than half of the professional human programmers. ^{[25] [26]}

Competitive programming requires good skills in various aspects of programming which makes this feat by AlphaCode even more amazing.

The success of DeepMind’s A.I shows that A.I is now capable of solving complex coding problems that require critical thinking, logic, and an understanding of algorithms and natural language.

These are still the early days of A.I coding. With a few more years of development, A.I should be able to beat the best coder. This might mean the end of coding as we know it.

13. The first digital currency was not bitcoin

When most people think about digital currency (or cryptocurrency), bitcoin usually comes to mind. Bitcoin was created in 2009 by an anonymous person or group called Satoshi Nakamoto.

But bitcoin was not the first digital currency. The first digital currency was eCash. It was created in 1990 by David Chaum under his company DigiCash. The currency didn’t take off and DigiCash filed for bankruptcy in 1998. ^[28] 

There were a couple of other digital currencies developed in the 90s including. ^[28] 

• eGold: Created in 1996 by Douglas Jackson and Barry Downey. It allowed users to transfer ownership of gold. It was widely used until the US government shut it down in 2008.
• Hashcash: Created in 1997 by Adam Back. It used Proof-of-work algorithms for verification (similar to bitcoin).

14. Python programming language was not named after a snake

Although the Python logo looks like two snakes curled up, the programming language is not named after its reptilian namesake.

Python’s creator, Guido Van Rossum, took the name from the BBC TV Comedy show Monty Python’s Flying Circus.^[29]

Guido wanted a name that was unique, concise, and slightly mysterious. At the time, he was reading published scripts from Monty Python’s Flying Circus and he felt that the name fit his requirements.

Find out why Python is one of the best programming languages to learn here.

Do you want to learn Python? Check out these great courses

15. C programming language was once named ‘New B’

When it was first created, C was named ‘New B’ but as more improvements were made to the language, the name was changed to C. ^[30]

C programming language was developed by Dennis Ritchie in 1972 at Bell Labs. It was based on an earlier programming language called ‘B’. Since ‘C’ follows ‘B’ in the alphabet, he decided to name the programming language ‘C’ to show that‘C’ was influenced by ‘B’. ^[30]

Because so many programming languages are based on C, learning C will help you quickly pick up many other languages. C is also widely used in embedded systems which are becoming popular with the move toward the Internet of Things (IoT).

16. Java programming language was once named Oak

Java was originally named Oak but had to be changed because the name was already trademarked by Oak technologies.

Java was originally developed by James Gosling and his team at Sun Microsystems in the early 90s. It was released to the public in 1995 and was named one of the top ten products of 1995 by Time Magazine. ^[31]

The popular narrative is that the name Java came from Java coffee, James Gosling’s favorite coffee. Interviews with people at Sun paint a different picture. ^[32]

The name Java came from a series of brainstorming sessions at Sun Microsystems. Out of 10 potential names suggested, three (Java, DNA, and Silk) did not have any trademark issues. They settled on Java because it seemed dynamic, revolutionary, lively, and fun. ^[32]

Java is a great language to learn especially if you are interested in enterprise software and big data (see Top programming languages). It has a wide community and numerous learning resources.

17. JavaScript got its name as a marketing gimmick

Java is to JavaScript what Car is to Carpet –Chris Heilmann

If you are new to programming, you may think that JavaScript and Java are somehow connected. However, Java has nothing to do with JavaScript despite the similarities in their names and syntax.

When JavaScript was released in 1995, it was named LiveScript but it was later renamed JavaScript in December 1995. ^[33]

At that time, there was a lot of hype surrounding the release of Java, and the creators of JavaScript (Netscape), saw an opportunity to market JavaScript as a complementary scripting language to go with Java (a compiled language). ^[33]

18. A real bug helped popularize the term ‘computer bug’

In 1947, Grace Hopper, an admiral in the US navy, was testing an electromechanical computer (the Mark II) when it malfunctioned. It was later discovered that a moth trapped in the computer relay caused the malfunction. She wrote in the computer logbook “First actual case of bug being found.” ^[34]

This incident with the Mark II bug helped popularise the use of the term ‘bug’ in computer circles.

But contrary to popular belief, Grace Hopper did not coin the term ‘bug’. The term had been used in engineering circles as early as the 1870s. Thomas Edison even referred to the term ‘bug’ in a letter to an associate in 1878. ^{[35] [36]}

19. The world’s first computer virus was an experiment that displayed a ‘creepy’ message

Creeper virus is widely regarded as the first virus. It was created in 1971 by Bob Thomas of BBN Technologies. The virus had no malicious intent and was created as an experiment to see whether it was possible to create a self-replicating computer program.

It was first detected in the ARPANET (the precursor of today’s internet) in the early seventies and it would display the phrase: “I’m the creeper, catch me if you can!” on computer screens. ^[37]

20. The most destructive computer virus was discovered in 2004

There are many contenders for the most destructive virus. However, according to most sources, the most destructive computer virus was MyDoom.

MyDoom caused an estimated $38 billion in damage in 2004 through distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. It was spread through infected email attachments. ^[38]

Here are some interesting facts about MyDoom worm.

• It was first identified on 26^th January 2004 ^[38]
• It was one of the fastest spreading email worms and it infected at least 500,000 computers worldwide.
• It contained a text message “andy; I’m just doing my job, nothing personal, sorry”
• It caused Google to crash for the better part of 26 July 2004.

Other highly destructive computer viruses include: ^[39]

• Sobig worm. It caused an estimated $30 billion in damage in 2003.
• Klez. It caused an estimated $20 billion in damage in 2001

Do you wish to learn how to deal with malware or thwart cyber attacks? Check out these great courses

21. Many programmers spend a huge chunk of their day looking for solutions

Programmers spend a lot of time searching for answers to coding problems. In fact, 62.3% of coders spend more than 30 minutes a day looking for answers to coding problems.

Here is a breakdown of the time coders spend looking for solutions. (StackOverflow, 2022) ^[17]

• Less than 15 minutes a day: 9.8%
• 15-30 minutes a day: 27.9%
• 30-60 minutes a day: 37.7%
• 60-120 minutes a day: 17.6%
• Over 120 minutes a day: 6.9%

So, if you find programming difficult, don’t worry, even the pros have a hard time.

22. Most programming jobs are outside of tech

Research done by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (2017) estimated that STEM occupations employed nearly 67 percent of people with computer-related skills (e.g. programmers, system analysts, user support). ^[41]

This is not surprising because all kinds of STEM careers including engineering, mathematics, agriculture, survey/mapping, sociology, and scientific research require coding skills especially those related to data analysis.

Programming skills are also important for other careers outside STEM such as business, web design, and economics.

23. Several programming languages are named after famous mathematicians

Creators of programming languages seem to have a fondness for naming languages in honor of mathematicians.

Here are some languages that have been named after mathematicians.

• Ada: Named after Ada Lovelace (1815-1852), a mathematician and writer credited with writing the world’s first computer program. ^[42]
• Haskell: Named after American mathematician Haskell Brooks Curry (1900-1982), best known for his work on combinatory logic. ^[43]
• Pascal: Named after the famed French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal (1623-1622). Pascal made great contributions to mathematics including probability theory and game theory. ^[44]
• Erlang: Named after Danish mathematician Agner Krarup Erlang (1878-1929), best known for traffic engineering and queuing theory. ^[45]

24. The interesting reasons why programmers’ day is celebrated on September 13

International Programmers’ Day is commonly celebrated on September 13, or on September 12 in leap years. ^{[48] [49]}

The holiday honors the contributions that programmers all over the world have made.

It was declared a professional holiday in Russia in 2009 after lobbying by Russian programmers Valentin Balt and Michael Cherviakov. Before then, people would unofficially celebrate programmers’ day on January 7. ^{[48] [49]}

Why programmers’ day is celebrated on 13 September

September 13^th was chosen as the International Programmers’ day because it is the 256^th day of the year. 256 (2⁸) is a significant number for programmers because ^{[48] [49]}

• It is the number of distinct values that can be represented with an 8-bit byte.
• It is the highest power of two that is less than 365 (the number of days in a year).
• It reads 1 0000 0000 when translated into binary code.

In China, Programmers’ Day is celebrated on October 24. The date was chosen because it can be written as 1024 (2¹⁰) and it remains a consistent date regardless of leap years. ^[49]

Wrapping Up

Did you learn anything new? I hope you found a few useful nuggets that you can use in your programming journey.