She was a visionary who predicted that computers could do more than just crunch numbers

Lovelace anticipated the current computer's ability to serve multiple purposes. She wondered whether content like music could be converted to digital form and controlled by a machine, notwithstanding Babbage's belief that the function of his machines was limited to doing mathematical computations.

According to Lovelace, if items were discovered whose underlying relationships could be described by the laws of the abstract science of operations, the analytical engine "could function upon other things besides number... For example, if the basic relationships between pitched sounds in the study of harmony and musical composition could be expressed and modified [mathematically], the engine might create complicated and scientific works of music of unlimited complexity or scope.