Mad Respect for Dennis Ritchie, Father of C Programming Language and Unix, Dead at 70
Mad Respect for Dennis Ritchie, Father of C Programming Language and Unix, Dead at 70
Posted 10/14/2011 at 6:04am
| by Paul Lilly
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Thank you Dennis Ritchie, for without you, our digital lives may have turned out far less awesome than what they are now. Ritchie, for anyone who doesn't recognize the name, created the C programming language, which is still popular today and is the basis for many other programming languages, and co-developed Unix with Ken Thompson, variants of which are all over the place, including Android and iOS.
Ritchie, who had been long struggling with an illness, passed away this past weekend at age 70. His death was confirmed by Bell Labs, where he had worked from 1967 until retiring in 2007.
"Dennis was well loved by his colleagues at Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs, and will greatly missed," Jeong Kim, President of Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs, said in a statement. "He was truly an inspiration to all of us, not just for his many accomplishments, but because of who he was as a friend, an inventor, and a humble and gracious man. We would like to express our deepest sympathies to the Ritchie family, and to all who have been touched in some way by Dennis."
Ritchie was born on September 9, 1941, in Bronxville, New York, and grew up New Jersey where his father, Alistair Ritchie, worked for Bell Labs. In 1983, Ritchie, along with Thompson, received the Turing Award from the Association for Computing Machinery. This was just one of many awards he accumulated over his lifetime, including the National Medal of Technology, which President Clinton awarded the two men in 1998 for inventing Unix and C.
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Vigilant Satyr
October 14, 2011 at 3:29pm
Did the Wachowskis' intentionally make the character of "The Architect" in the Matrix films look exactly like Dennis Ritchie?
SYL808
October 14, 2011 at 11:12am
I don't use C or Unix but I still appreciate what you've done, rest in peace.
lo_tek
October 14, 2011 at 7:41am
Addendum: my God, they're dropping like flies now. I can see the 20th century rapidly fading into history...
lo_tek
October 14, 2011 at 7:39am
Godspeed, Ritchie! I'm sure you can C what's going on down here from up there. Say hello to the rest of the greats up there, huh?
Conal_keaney
October 14, 2011 at 7:39am
Many thanks to you Ritchie for creating C and Unix. Alot of other languages came to be, based from C. Clearly this guy was a hero, without him I can't imagine what the world would be like today. Thank you Ritchie.
kkern
October 14, 2011 at 12:33pm
#include <stdio.h>
void main ( ) {
printf("goodbye, world\n");
}
I guess God got Steve Jobs for the marketing ... but now needs Dennis Ritchie to actual make it work! Wonder who will be next?The co-author of the first "real" programming book I got in college, The C Programming Language -- perhaps the most densely packed 272 page book I have ever owned. Still use it today, some 20 years later.
LatiosXT
October 14, 2011 at 7:22am
Dennis Ritchie, I salute to you for making computers (and by computer, any electronic that fits the basic definition) what they are today.
It will be sad that few people will know his legacy than, well, you know who.
Silencer
October 14, 2011 at 6:58am
I remember when he made C. I checked it out, while having an understanding of BASIC, Machine/Assembly, and some others (LOGO, a bit of ForTran, etc. You know.) Anyway, I remember having mad respect for his work, of the programming language C.
It is the core of our computer world. And it's pretty dang tight. At least on one level, our computers are functioning smooth, thanks to this man. Whenever I've considered creating my own higher level language, I've always remembered this man's work, and think, "Why bother? He nailed it."
I'm sure you're receiving your reward from the LORD now. Good for you dude! Meet you later.
(P.S. Steve Jobs was, 'a moderately-successful person in life', IMO.) (Dennis Ritchie, 'a Hero', IMO.)
Edit: LOL! I just read the article! Ya, he made that *little* unix-linux thing too. Oh my gosh! Do you realize that by making both C and Unix, *THIS ONE MAN basically created OUR ENTIRE computing UNIVERSE*? Surely, GOD was involved with him. Fascinating.
thetechchild
October 15, 2011 at 2:54pm
Theist God references killed your comment. Just because a man dies doesn't make it right to fling out all caps "LORD" and "GOD" everywhere.
Other than that, though... Considering his creation of both Unix and C, he might as well have single-handedly invented modern computing. If Steve Jobs was a visionary and an innovator, then Dennis Ritchie would surely be the nitty-gritty systems programmer behind the flashy gadgets (and a far more more significant and competent one than Bill Gates...)
May he rest in peace.
Silencer
October 15, 2011 at 3:58pm
"Just because a man dies doesn't make it right to fling out all caps "LORD" and "GOD" everywhere."
I know what matters when you die. And live. Wake up, before you do.
See Matthew 12:30 for your needed correction.
Edit: Oh, and welcome to the American Internet. (From GOD, BTW.)
Carlidan
October 17, 2011 at 8:14pm
"I know what matters when you die. And live. Wake up, before you do."
What matters when you die and live is that you've accomplished your life goals and that you help benifit society. Not because you believed in "GOD" or any other religion. And also I would think any "GOD" wants everyone to be good rather just believing in it.
"Edit: Oh, and welcome to the American Internet. (From GOD, BTW.)"
When did GOD create Internet? I always thought MAN created it?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet
Yeah I was right man created it. :)
"See Matthew 12:30 for your needed correction."
He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.
Sorry you feel that way. BTW I'm not against you.
Again, I don't mind people believing in religion. Because some people need it. If it helps you, good for you. But I hate it when religious people have to thrust their beliefs upon society at large.
Silencer
October 25, 2011 at 2:56pm
A I don't feel that way. he does.
B he commands us to witness to you. if you think i'm overbearing, wait until you meet your dad.
C Bye. Let's drop it! I AM!
D god will tell you later, when he made the internet. and, good luck with that too.
E I'm not preaching. I'm just not 'hiding', the truth I believe, from small-minded, whiny, farts, who are telling me to hide it. Glad you're not George Washington! You'd probably love Europe, or Michigan!
Carlidan
October 26, 2011 at 10:40am
A. I'll agree that he was an ass. But then you had to go on a rant yourself.
B. I've met my dad. He was with me when I was born. Didn't yours? And yes he is overbearing. :)
C. Will do.
D. Again, Man created the interweb. Just as man has written the bible.
E. Yes you were preaching. No, I don't want you do hide your religion. If it helps you. I'm glad. I could also say that small minded, whiny, farts like to push religion to people who don't want to be pushed onto them. What does George Washigton have to do with this? He believed in deism and he believed in a secular nation. So your point is what? What's wrong with Europe? Don't you like the Vanatician? Guess not.
Silencer
November 04, 2011 at 3:02am
I guess I couldn't 'drop it', after all, (after I re-read your 'D'.) Here are 3 relevant excerpts, from my conversation with 'Caboose':
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/singularity_five_technologies_will_change_world_and_one_wont
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible_code
"if you put the Bible in a computer and do word searches on it in it's original languages, it tells the future, as in, including everything major the last 100 years. (Warning, most information concerning the 'Bible Code', especially on the internet, is a lie. But the code is real.) Pentagon, scientists, recognize, (<- all little-known true facts,) that only GOD could have made the Bible. Not written by men. Penned."
"...Dipsht on a rock (no offense to the honorable prophet) can't see the future. Science plus history proves (I said science plus history proves) that GOD stuck that stuff (as in OUR FUTURE) in there. If you don't see it yet, just give up. (Dipsht on a rock is NOT GOD. Did not WRITE the Bible.) (Hint: It took GOD, to write that.) <- DUH! So, WHO WROTE the Bible? Just forget about it. It's, um, boring! Ya. Ya you're right, it was written by men, and encrypted with all of the events of world history, while also at the same time, telling a cute, true story on its crunchy outer shell! For all of us non-omniscient beings. But they were men, who wrote it. Pretty clever! You catching my sarcasm here?..."
Now I'm done. I'll catch you on another article, I'm sure.
[Wow. My captch this time was: "piTYu". I sht you not.]
Carlidan
November 04, 2011 at 3:10pm
Actually the Bible code has already been debunked. I will give your more information later.
Silencer
November 04, 2011 at 3:45pm
I doubt it, (both.)
No need to bother, although I'll read any crap put up here.
Carlidan
November 06, 2011 at 12:00am
http://www.csicop.org/si/show/hidden_messages_and_the_bible_code/
http://www.jewishjournal.com/bloggish/item/the_bible_code_hoax_or_holiness/
Try to get more acticles.
Silencer
November 06, 2011 at 1:49am
1st link: "The Bible Code", is also the name of a 'Weak-Ass' book.
I'll look at the other crap later.
(Although, it was a world-wide best-seller. And, is acclaimed by most liberal institutions. But, whatever.)
Carlidan
November 06, 2011 at 3:37pm
"( And, is acclaimed by most liberal institutions. But, whatever.)"
You can back that accusation up right or just another way to bash liberals again for propping up a book as legit.
Silencer
November 06, 2011 at 5:40pm
Ya. Look inside its front cover. Pages and pages. NYT, on and on, and on...
Done here.
JCGPZ9
October 14, 2011 at 6:24am
It's sad that people hold more respect for Steve Jobs than the father of a popular computing language simply because someone else would've come along to do the job (this was actually said by an iFan on another site).
Conal_keaney
October 14, 2011 at 7:34am
I know right? Without C or Unix, alot of what we hold for granted in our tech world would not be here. C is awesome. I have yet to learn it (which I've heard it's not too diff from C++) but C is a pretty cool language. I middle ground between low level language and a high level language.
I digress but it does make me a tad sad people will give way more attention to Steve Jobs than Ritchie.
oihorse
October 14, 2011 at 11:59am
It wouldn't be fair to say what Steve accomplished was any less important, rather they existed at opposite ends of the spectrum.
Dennis' accomplishments were decidedly less flashy and he wasn't CEO of the most successful company of the time amidst a crumbling economy.
Moreover, the non-tech populace that makes up the majority of the population have a hell of a lot harder time understanding what C is or what Unix is or its importance.
That ignorance could easily be overcome if we had somewhat competent mainstream journalists and reporters that could parley that information into something tangible like "You know that smartphone in your hand? Well before Steve Jobs or Google, the guy that made all that possible just died. His name was Dennis Ritchie."
JCGPZ9
October 14, 2011 at 8:49am
Robert Galvin of Motorola has also passed away. Little blurbs here and there about that compared to Jobs.
Engelsstaub
October 14, 2011 at 10:13am
This isn't just with Steve Jobs, but any celebrity. People aren't always reknowned for accomplishments, though Steve did accomplish quite a bit.
If people only became famous for good reasons then we wouldn't see dumbasses like Hilton or the Kardashians on the cover of every rag that hits the stands.
Coldrage
October 14, 2011 at 10:49am
People generally just aren't interested in anything that requires using their brain which is why the masses are mostly borderline retarded.
R.I.P Ritchie.
thetechchild
October 15, 2011 at 2:58pm
Not necessarily. They just might not be interested in the field. A doctor could in no way be considered "borderline retarded", but I wouldn't expect one to know about C or Unix... Facing facts, true techies are a niche (even if larger than most) among the masses.
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