What is the first programming language?

Like many "firsts" in history, the first modern programming language is hard to identify. From the start, the restrictions of the hardware defined the language. Punch cards allowed 80 columns, but some of the columns had to be used for a sorting number on each card. FORTRAN included some keywords which were the same as English words, such as "IF", "GOTO" (go to) and "CONTINUE". The use of a magnetic drum for memory meant that computer programs also had to be interleaved with the rotations of the drum. Thus the programs were more hardware-dependent. At first, the languages were codes. Ada Lovelace notes on the engine include what is recognised as the first algorithm intended to be processed by a machine, she is sometimes considered the "World's First Computer Programmer".