RIP Dennis Ritchie (1941-2011)
Posted by on October 15, 2011
Computer programming and operating system pioneer, Dennis Ritchie passed away from our world on 12 October 2011.
I’m a little disappointed at the relative silence in the mainstream media about this, compared to the passing of Steve Jobs (no disrespect to Jobs, whose accolades were fully deserved). Ritchie’s work has influenced absolutely everybody who has used post-1980 computer technology. IT would not be where it is today without the contributions of Ritchie and his colleagues, Brian Kernighan and Ken Thompson.
I’ll read my copy of The C Programming Language with a bit more respect from now on, knowing that we stand on shoulders of such greats as these.
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