Dennis M. Ritchie (1941 - 2011)

Published: 2011-10-13
Last Updated: 2011-10-13 20:38:47 UTC
by Kevin Shortt (Version: 1)
3 comment(s)

/*

The news that Dennis M. Ritchie, the creator of the C Programming language and well known for contributing to the creation of the UNIX Operating System, died on October 8, 2011, hit the Internet headlines today. 

Also very well known to all UNIX/C Programmers for his co-authoring of the book The C Programming Language [1].  I will not profess to know much of Dennis M. Ritchie to speak here.  I do recognize his contribution to my career and all the UNIX that flows through my blood stream.  

I have read many stories today covering the life of Dennis M. Ritchie.  The one I found most credible and interesting to read, was ironically an autobiography [2]. Take a moment of appreciation and read through it when you have a chance.  Bell-Labs also hosts a page for dmr [3]. Those pages are my recommended reading for the day.

The loss of Steve Jobs last week is recognizably an enormous loss to society and the world.  A few days later, we have lost Dennis M. Ritchie.  It is an understatement that Steve Jobs and all like him have been standing on Dennis M. Ritchie's shoulders for years. Dennis M. Ritchie was a giant and can be recognized as such.  

Simply put, this world is a better, more productive and richer place because of Dennis M. Ritchie.  We all owe a bit gratitude.

*/

#include <stdio.h>

int main () {

   printf("goodbye, dmr. RIP.\n");

}

/*

[1] http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/cbook/index.html
[2] http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/who/dmr/bigbio1st.html
[3] http://cm.bell-labs.com/who/dmr/   

-Kevin

--
Kevin Shortt
ISC Handler on Duty

*/

$ gcc dmr.c
$ ./a.out
goodbye, dmr. RIP.



Keywords: Ritchie
3 comment(s)

Comments

Very nice of you. Steve Jobs was unarguably a great. I align closer to dmr, also a great, just not as popular. Both have etched their mark on history.
Totally Agree, everything we use total that's much smarter than a lightswitch got there because of DMR.

If Jobs was Einstein, DMR was Newton.

Dom
poop i could have done with better news.
not old enough: i guess, too much work he did; not enough pong.

/* the log entry formatting was an apt tribute :') */

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