Dennis Ritchie, the co-inventor of the C programming language and the UNIX operating system, passed away 12 October 2011.

Most people would have no idea who Ritchie is. If Steve Jobs is praised for consumerising IT, then Ritchie is the one who made computing for the masses possible by inventing technologies upon which they are built.

The C programming language underpins the majority of programming languages used today. The vast majority of software are written in C, uses a programming language written in or derived from C, or runs on other software written in C or its derivatives. The UNIX operating system and its derivatives (which include MacOS, iOS, Android, Linux, BSD, Solaris, among others) form the bedrock of Internet infrastructure and many other IT systems.

We enjoy the marvels of modern technology thanks to pioneers like these.

I read about this a day ago or so, he's certainly been one of those whose name shouldn't be forgotten. Just consider that C is still used to program anything from simple microcontrollers to scientific supercomputers - it's the most successful programming language ever thanks to him and Kernighan.

On a side note, when Steve Jobs dies, someone raised the question of what will the people's reactions be like when some "real" computer sciences genius or pioneer passes away, it's nice to see that Ritchie's death doesn't go unnoticed.

Quote from MadCatX :

I read about this a day ago or so, he's certainly been one of those whose name shouldn't be forgotten. Just consider that C is still used to program anything from simple microcontrollers to scientific supercomputers - it's the most successful programming language ever thanks to him and Kernighan.

On a side note, when Steve Jobs dies, someone raised the question of what will the people's reactions be like when some "real" computer sciences genius or pioneer passes away, it's nice to see that Ritchie's death doesn't go unnoticed.


fprintf(stdout, "R.I.P dmr\n");


thanks to real guys like him, the world has steve jobs and his like...


so his passing is sad but Hey, mac fags are still mourning too

Quote from MadCatX :

On a side note, when Steve Jobs dies, someone raised the question of what will the people's reactions be like when some "real" computer sciences genius or pioneer passes away, it's nice to see that Ritchie's death doesn't go unnoticed.


fprintf(stdout, "R.I.P dmr\n");


Does to most.

What is most striking is all the press Jobs got but OS X and the iPhone both run on BSD Unix and use Object C, both derivatives of work by Ritchie. Yet I only noticed when it was reported on Ars T days later.

Ritchie had a far far bigger impact on IT than Jobs ever had. RIP

Quote from PMD9409 :

Does to most.


printf("Goodbye World\n");


i'm surprised how much emotion that brought up...

Quote from anbiddulph :

i'm surprised how much emotion that brought up...

Anyone that had even began C for a hour or two, would know that piece of code and realize its significance.

Even looking at this forum and see that Steve Jobs' thread had over 50 replies, and this one has about 6 shows the story really.

Quote from PMD9409 :

Anyone that had even began C for a hour or two, would know that piece of code and realize its significance.

Even looking at this forum and see that Steve Jobs' thread had over 50 replies, and this one has about 6 shows the story really.

anyone who has ever learned almost any coding language knows the value of it

Quote from PMD9409 :

Does to most.


printf("Goodbye World\n");


That needs to go on his tombstone.

In fact, I'd quite like it on mine.

Quote from Crashgate3 :

That needs to go on his tombstone.

In fact, I'd quite like it on mine.

Perhaps a little morbid, but it would be quite a symbolic thing to have on his tombstone.

Nice to see Ritchie's former employer, Alcatel-Lucent (AT&T back in the day), paying tribute to one of their brightest: http://www2.alcatel-lucent.com ... from-jeong-kim/#more-3443