The first computer program was developed by Ada Lovelace in the mid-19th century. She worked on Charles Babbage's early mechanical general-purpose computer, known as the Analytical Engine. Ada Lovelace is often regarded as the world's first computer programmer due to her visionary insight into the potential of computing machines. Her notes included algorithms intended for the Analytical Engine, outlining sequences of operations for the machine to execute. Lovelace's contributions laid the foundation for future generations of programming and computer science.