Dennis Ritchie, 1941-2011.

This forums is for OS project announcements including project openings, new releases, update notices, test requests, and job openings (both paying and volunteer).
Post Reply
User avatar
Brynet-Inc
Member
Member
Posts: 2426
Joined: Tue Oct 17, 2006 9:29 pm
Libera.chat IRC: brynet
Location: Canada
Contact:

Dennis Ritchie, 1941-2011.

Post by Brynet-Inc »

I'm sure most of you are already well aware, but dmr died a few days ago. Hopefully most of you here agree that it was a major loss.

http://www2.alcatel-lucent.com/blogs/co ... jeong-kim/
Image
Twitter: @canadianbryan. Award by smcerm, I stole it. Original was larger.
User avatar
NickJohnson
Member
Member
Posts: 1249
Joined: Tue Mar 24, 2009 8:11 pm
Location: Sunnyvale, California

Re: Dennis Ritchie, 1941-2011.

Post by NickJohnson »

How did I not hear about this yet? Steve Jobs dies and it's all over the news, but the creator of C and co-creator of UNIX dies and I have to learn about it through osdev.org five days later?

- sigh -

The world has lost a great hacker.
User avatar
Solar
Member
Member
Posts: 7615
Joined: Thu Nov 16, 2006 12:01 pm
Location: Germany
Contact:

Re: Dennis Ritchie, 1941-2011.

Post by Solar »

{a minute of silence}
Every good solution is obvious once you've found it.
User avatar
MDM
Member
Member
Posts: 57
Joined: Wed Jul 21, 2010 9:05 pm

Re: Dennis Ritchie, 1941-2011.

Post by MDM »

This is very sad for the the industry – he revolutionized the software world more than anyone else that I can think of.
Casm
Member
Member
Posts: 221
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2010 2:21 pm
Location: United Kingdom

Re: Dennis Ritchie, 1941-2011.

Post by Casm »

He was responsible for creating a useful and versatile programming language. It is just a shame he had to spoil it with a crap operating system.
User avatar
Coty
Member
Member
Posts: 286
Joined: Thu Feb 12, 2009 5:12 pm

Re: Dennis Ritchie, 1941-2011.

Post by Coty »

NickJohnson wrote:How did I not hear about this yet? Steve Jobs dies and it's all over the news, but the creator of C and co-creator of UNIX dies and I have to learn about it through osdev.org five days later?
I know... I bet it'll be the same thing when the true creator of Apple (Steve Woz) goes...

RIP
My hero, is Mel.
bonch
Member
Member
Posts: 52
Joined: Thu Aug 18, 2011 11:19 pm

Re: Dennis Ritchie, 1941-2011.

Post by bonch »

I was genuinely sad when I heard about this. He was such a quiet achiever.
User avatar
Colonel Kernel
Member
Member
Posts: 1437
Joined: Tue Oct 17, 2006 6:06 pm
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Contact:

Re: Dennis Ritchie, 1941-2011.

Post by Colonel Kernel »

I think Herb Sutter (chair of the ISO C++ Standards Committee) summed it up best:
So this young upstart whippersnapper comes along and decides to try to specify a language that will let people write programs that are: (a) high-level, with structures and functions; (b) portable to just about any kind of hardware; and (c) efficient on that hardware so that they’re competitive with handcrafted nonportable custom assembler code on that hardware. A high-level, portable, efficient systems programming language.

How silly. Everyone knew it couldn’t be done.

C is a poster child for why it’s essential to keep those people who know a thing can’t be done from bothering the people who are doing it.
http://herbsutter.com/2011/10/12/dennis-ritchie/
Top three reasons why my OS project died:
  1. Too much overtime at work
  2. Got married
  3. My brain got stuck in an infinite loop while trying to design the memory manager
Don't let this happen to you!
User avatar
Jezze
Member
Member
Posts: 395
Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2007 1:53 am
Libera.chat IRC: jfu
Contact:

Re: Dennis Ritchie, 1941-2011.

Post by Jezze »

I'm sad for both Dennis and Steve but for me on a personal level the achievements of Dennis have far more influenced my life. I thank you for that Dennis.
Fudge - Simplicity, clarity and speed.
http://github.com/Jezze/fudge/
User avatar
VolTeK
Member
Member
Posts: 815
Joined: Sat Nov 15, 2008 2:37 pm
Location: The Fire Nation

Re: Dennis Ritchie, 1941-2011.

Post by VolTeK »

Coty wrote:when the true creator of Apple (Steve Woz) goes
I think not. When everyone thinks of apple, they think Steve Jobs. Most people can pull out their iPhones and ask their children or friends who made it, and they more then likely will say Steve Jobs. Most wont realize how big a part Steve Wozniak played in the roll of starting Apple when he dies.
TylerH
Member
Member
Posts: 285
Joined: Tue Apr 13, 2010 8:00 pm
Contact:

Re: Dennis Ritchie, 1941-2011.

Post by TylerH »

GhostXoPCorp wrote:
Coty wrote:when the true creator of Apple (Steve Woz) goes
I think not. When everyone thinks of apple, they think Steve Jobs. Most people can pull out their iPhones and ask their children or friends who made it, and they more then likely will say Steve Jobs. Most wont realize how big a part Steve Wozniak played in the roll of starting Apple when he dies.
That's what he meant: that Dennis and the Woz will get the same, small amount of recognition, despite their achievements being equal to, if not better than Jobs'.
User avatar
VolTeK
Member
Member
Posts: 815
Joined: Sat Nov 15, 2008 2:37 pm
Location: The Fire Nation

Re: Dennis Ritchie, 1941-2011.

Post by VolTeK »

TylerH wrote: if not better than Jobs'.
He deserves much more then what he will probably get, thats for sure.
User avatar
xyjamepa
Member
Member
Posts: 397
Joined: Fri Sep 29, 2006 8:59 am

Re: Dennis Ritchie, 1941-2011.

Post by xyjamepa »

what a lost
ah
minute of silence .
The man who follows the crowd will usually get no further than the crowd.
The man who walks alone is likely to find himself in places
no one has ever been before.
Post Reply