Father of "C" Programming Language Dies at 70

[Guest]

> JavaScript and PHP, are both C-like.

Actually, JavaScript is Modula-like. PHP is PERL-like. None of them share much of there semantics with C.

 

[Inferno1217]

He was a TRUE pioneer. R.I.P.

 

[dread_cthulhu]

[citation][nom]slabbo[/nom]He, like Telsa, contributed so much, but got so little recognition for the contributions they have given society and humanity as a whole. The little man who wants to make things better for all and for free always gets squashed by the profiteers (ie. Jobs and Edison). That's just the totally messed up world we live in.Sad part is, that we are still going back and relearning all the stuff Telsa did way back then, but we ignored him and shunned him. We wasted a true gift of genius, and in doing so we probably set ourselves back a hundred years. He even said way back in 1932 that there were particles moving faster than the speed of light...sad.[/citation]

Totally agreed... We shall miss Dennis... RIP Sir.

 

[del35]

Its people like this we should remember who made so much possible in the IT world we live in today. Not bloody Steve Jobs.

Steve Jobs locked up an open source distribution of Unix, branded it , and began to charge an exorbitant price for brushed aluminum cases running his hacked OS on second rate hardware while with unconditional help from the MSM he began posing as their Buddhist genius boy who invented almost everything in the personal computer. Not a single penny of the billions he swindled from gullible dumbed-down Americans who could probably not tell the difference between a coffee tray and a dvdrom bay, have been returned to the people in the form of charity. You gotta give Steve some credit. He ain't no fucking petty thief; he is GRAND.

 

[tacoslave]

Without this guy we would still be living without our sick ass Pc's you will be missed you wonderful man.

 

[Guest]

Such a loss.

Let me add something here: virtually everything you use runs thanks to C (or C++). That's what your HDD's or smartphone's firmware, your MPEG-4 codec, your GPU drivers were all written in.

 

[coolgod]

[citation][nom]another user[/nom]> JavaScript and PHP, are both C-like.Actually, JavaScript is Modula-like. PHP is PERL-like. None of them share much of there semantics with C.[/citation]
nope php is written on c and looks very like c. No where close to PERL. Are you high or something? Javascript isn't modula like, more like C. Syntax wise for both ofcourse, both are implemented on c anyways.

 

[agnickolov]

[citation][nom]C_mania[/nom]Such a loss.Let me add something here: virtually everything you use runs thanks to C (or C++). That's what your HDD's or smartphone's firmware, your MPEG-4 codec, your GPU drivers were all written in.[/citation]
I'd make just one correction - no virtually, no exceptions. Absolutely every modern computing device in existence runs at least some of its software written in C and/or C++ - at least the fundamentals like OS and drivers.

 

[memadmax]

As someone else said before, what a sad month for the IT world.

We can stand to have a few empty chairs, but we can't stand to have them ALL empty....

 

[xerroz]

A REAL pioneer, this man deserves every bit of mention Steve Jobs has had. Like people have said, Dennis Ritchie was a true innovator, not a con artist like Stevie.

 

[livebriand]

Sad how everyone knows about people like Steve Jobs, but few have heard of this guy, who's far more important to modern computing.

 

[IndignantSkeptic]

It depends how you look at it. The reigning high-level languages at the time were Fortran and COBOL. The former is still in use today, the latter we'd be happy to finally get rid of (Remember Y2K? It brought it back to the forefront for a while...). Assembler was still in use as well. The revolutionary aspect that C brought was that you could program in a high-level language and retain most of the performance you'd get from programming in assembler. You got direct control over the content of the memory thanks to its direct support for memory pointers. (Ironically, Java and C# are popular precisely because they eliminated raw pointers and explicit memory management.) It was (and still is) also loved for its succinct notation (especially compared to the monstrosity that is COBOL) that lives in its successors (C++, Java, C#, etc.). C++ brought the C language into the modern object-oriented programming world and that is my main programming language.

i was thinking of Pascal. didn't that come before C and wasn't it very similar to C?

 

[areszues92]

All C related programmers mourn! RIP..

 

[Guest]

Legend

 

[jsc]

There is still one Great One left - Donald Knuth.

 

[del35]

I wonder if Barrrack Obama will mention Richie amongst the great inventors of America as he did for Steve Jobs.

He likely will not. Dennis is perceived by the MSM as a threat to their "Steve Jobs is a genius" canard. Obama being a politician looking for good MSM standing will likely look the other way; I hope I am wrong. It is a tragedy we lost this great man (Dennis) and with such little discussion about his incredible contribution to liberating people and information technology from the yoke of closed standards. Information technology is facing a great threat and the sooner we realize it the better.

Boycott Apple and spread the word. You need to become active. We need to return IT to open standards and not the youraretoodumbtoknow locked down standards being peddled by the narrowly owned MSM on behalf of the Apple parasite.

 

[del35]

As someone else said before, what a sad month for the IT world.

In some sense it was also a good one. We lost a man that posed one the greatest threats to the march of technology and open standards.

 

[del35]

I knew the comments section would somehow turn into a Dennis Ritchie > Steve Jobs rant. You guys are pathetic.

We are fighting for the freedom of IT. If you are so dumb that you cant see that Apple is a threat to technological innovation and freedom them you deserve to be with the master con-artist Steve Jobs.

 

[del35]

Dennis Ritchie => a genius inside a simple man

Brilliance often shines in humility. Compare that to the "I am a genius" posings of Steve Jobs who was essentially a money hungry con-artist posing as a Buddhist and hoodwinking gullible people, his fanboys.

 

[del35]

[There is still one Great One left - Donald Knuth./quote]

Agree completely. Use TeX often.

 

[del35]

He, like Telsa, contributed so much, but got so little recognition for the contributions they have given society and humanity as a whole.

Absolutely, another under-reported great man is Telsa. We cant stop the MSM from blabbing about their lockdown case designer Mr Jobs.

 

[Guest]

Mr Richie will be sadly missed. I cut my teeth on C and Unix in approx 1987. I have grown up on UNIX and Linux. Without Mr Richie, that probably would not have happened. We are so lucky that he got the ball rolling and made the world what it is today. My life is so easy ( and bug free ) since I can sit here on a Linux box. I have to thank Linus and Dennis for that.

you will be VERY MUCH MISSED>

 

[rooket]

A very long reach would be an understatement. This man did a great huge enormous deal more than Steve Jobs for the computer industry.

The main difference we have here is that society made Jobs into a celebrity and they generally don't with the real inventors.

The C programming language has been used extensively in applications, video games, and phones ever since its creation. I didn't even realize that there was one man responsible and also didn't realize that he was still living until recently.

70 is a young age. I know a man that is 79 years old right now that is suffering from dimentia and alzheimers. It is no laughing matter. There are a lot of great people out there still and some are suffering from these chronic irreversable conditions. It is just sad. All that we enjoy about what the people have accomplished is good and all, but imho I am more about the person than what they own when they become in these detremental states.

And back on the subject of inventors. Have you guys heard of the Hoover Dam? have you heard of the dymo labeler (the retro 80sish punch labeler)? Bill Monroe invented the valves in the hoover dam and the dymo labeler was his creation as well with cooperation with a partner that established the dymo company. I knew this man well and was near his death bed after he had multiple strokes. The person inside was great, very good man. These people are often overlooked when we see greatness and innovation and inventions in American society. However this guy was so modest that he did not want to take credit for his valves in the dam so his name is not seen within the exhibit area.

I'm sure, with the comments that I see above for Dennis, that he as well was a great humble man and possibly a caring person. It is great that Tom's set aside Apple Computer for a brief moment to publish this article.

 

[eddieroolz]

Found out about it on a Japanese forum; it was a sad day. But this man contributed to the society enormously and he shall be remembered as such.

 

[Guest]

we miss u lot...