Flavorwire

Amid the rave reviews for The Social Network, an interesting conversation has emerged: Why were the women in the movie so awful, from bong-gargling tech groupies to Ivy League party girls to the kind of psychobitch who’ll set your bed on fire? While we loved the movie and thought there was a certain amount of critique of the male leads’ succeed-to-get-laid model inherent in it, it does seem odd that no ladies seemed to be doing anything of substance during Facebook’s startup days.

Luckily, there are plenty of great role models out there for the girl computer geeks of the world — and we’re about to get another one, with Zooey Deschanel slated to portray programming pioneer Ada Lovelace in the biopic Enchantress of Numbers. As we look forward to that movie, a look back at some of pop culture’s most wonderful female computer nerds.

Willow Rosenberg – Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Buffy’s fire-haired pal may have blossomed into terrifyingly powerful lesbian witch, but she started out as a humble, high-school computer geek with an unrequited crush on her best friend, Xander. Even as magic deposed coding as Willow’s prime occupation, her hacking skills continued to get the Scooby crew out of some tough jams.