There have been a number of posts today for Ada Lovelace Day, honoring women in computing. * Tim O'Reilly posts about [the women at O'Reilly](http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/03/ada-lovelace-day-at-oreilly.html) who make things happen. If it weren't for Edie Freeman, we wouldn't think of the camel and Perl. * Nat Torkington highlights three women, including Perl's own Allison Randal, in [Ada Lovelace Day ABC](http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/03/ada-lovelace-day-abc.html). Brenda Wallace gets a shout-out as well. Brenda's not known for public Perl contributions, but she's well-known as a driver of the Perl community in New Zealand. * Casey West honors Audrey Tang, who should need no introduction. [Casey's blog post](http://caseywest.com/2009/03/24/ada-lovelace-day-audrey-tang/) gives the briefest of summaries of some of Audrey's amazing achievements. * Hundreds more at [http://findingada.com/](findingada.com) I'd like to call out a few more Perl people while we're at it: * Skud (Kirrily Robert) who helped me start Perlbuzz, is at the top of the list. If you've ever used [WWW::Mechanize](http://search.cpan.org/dist/WWW-Mechanize) instead of dealing with the inner workings of LWP, thank Skud. * Jacinta Richardson is half of [Perl Training Australia](http://perltraining.com.au/). Together with Paul Fenwick, they are a huge force in the Perl community in that corner of the world. My understanding is that their marvelous [Perl Tips newsletter](http://perltraining.com.au/tips/) comes from her. * Elaine Ashton was instrumental in getting the CPAN going, and keeping it going today. * Ricardo Signes rattled off names to me: [Jess Robinson](http://search.cpan.org/~jrobinson/), Karen Cravens, [Liz Cortell](http://www.slideshare.net/zrusilla/pulp-perl), [Beth Skwarecki](http://bethskwarecki.com/about/) and "[Elizabeth Mattijsen](http://search.cpan.org/~elizabeth/) who is TOTALLY badass." Perhaps he'll comment to fill in the details. I'd like to also steal a bit from Tim O'Reilly's article as well. He said:
My first hat tip has to go to my wife, Christina O'Reilly. She's a playwright and choreographer, not a techie. But if you've been influenced by me, you've also been influenced by her.... [S]he's been part of everything I've ever done, in the same way that Elizabeth Barrett Browning said of her husband, Robert Browning: "What I do and what I dream include thee, / As the wine must taste of its own grapes"
In the same way, let's remember our spouses, partners, and other special women in our lives, starting with Larry Wall's wife Gloria, who you've probably seen at Perl conferences keeping things together for the clan. Whenever you see the work of someone like Josh McAdams, Ricardo Signes, or Casey West, you've got a Heather McAdams, Gloria Signes and Chastity West, and the rest of their families, supporting them. That's community support to remember. Please add your praise of the women of Perl I've forgotten or don't know in the comments below.