Father of "C" Programming Language Dies at 70

[exfileme]

Longtime colleague Rob Pike reports that the "father of the C programming language" died over the weekend at age 70.

Father of "C" Programming Language Dies at 70 : Read more

 

[rocso]

it is men like this that have driven us to where we are today. i wonder where the world would be if they had had the same philosophy as apple in regards to innovation. you will be missed!

 

[ntdls]

@rocso - Thank you for that comment. I do not believe I could have said it better myself.

 

[Guest]

we were lucky that the monopoly AT&T abided by its (was it a consent decree?) limitations to avoid the appearance of moving into the computer business. As a result, they made it available to colleges and universities giving great numbers of students access to operating system kernels. AT&T's business decision led to widespread expertise in building and using operating systems. Only later did AT&T enter the computer business for profit, leading to the funding of BSD Unix, various Unix wars (such as POSIX), and eventually Linux. Innovation everywhere you look, based on a monopoly that's knows its place.

 

[zorky9]

Steve Jobs was a great man. But he would have been nowhere without giants like Dennis Ritchie.

 

[cats_Paw]

Thanks for C mate, Rest in peace.

 

[Temp_Username]

What a sad sad month for the IT world.

 

[guru_urug]

printf("Goodbye world.\n");

 

[killerclick]

Kim Jong Il is president of Bell Labs?!? OMG!

 

[alterecho]

R.I.P

 

[v1wer]

Steve Jobs was merely a profiteer with street smarts at the right time, just like Bill Gates. They both stole others' ideas and exploited their employees for profit. Nothing else.
No comparison with Dennis Ritchie, a genuine pioneer, who dedicated his time and genius to promoting knowledge through computer science.
You will not be forgotten. The world is much better because of your accomplishments.
owner of http://mdgx.com

 

[ojas]

/*
great man
R.I.P, your legacy remains.
*/

 

[Kurz]

Rest In Peace! If I had the mind to program I would...
It is as much as an Art as its a science. Though You would say that you given us the brushes we need to give life to these machines we call computers.

 

[isamuelson]

[citation][nom]rocso[/nom]it is men like this that have driven us to where we are today. i wonder where the world would be if they had had the same philosophy as apple in regards to innovation. you will be missed![/citation]

Actually, when Apple first started, they were very big into open systems. The Apple ][, ][+ and //e all were created to allow the user to open up, add cards, program, etc. It wasn't until the Lisa and Mac came out that the systems became closed.

In fact, I learned C on an Apple //e using the Aztec C Compiler which had it's own Unix-like environment for programming. So, if it weren't for Apple, I might not have gotten into programming and computers.

With Apple, I was able to program right from the DOS prompt. No need to buy anything as it was all built in. Next, I learned 6502 machine language programming. Again, no need for purchasing a program. CALL -131 put me into the monitor to begin entering hexadecimal operators to program in machine code. Or, you could launch into the monitor and then type F666G to launch into the mini-assembler to do assembly language programming. Once you were done, BSAVE was your friend to save it back to disk. Of course, that was good for small programs. I eventually got the Orca Macro assembler to do my assembly language programming.

So, as much as people hate Apple (I myself have a droid, not an iPhone but I don't hate Apple), they really elevated the hobbyist computer to a new level that brought video gaming on the computer to the forefront. I had SO many games for my Apple it isn't funny. In fact, I will go and run the Apple emulator on my PC when I feel really nostalgic for games like Ultima, Wizardy, Karateka, etc.

As it is, if it weren't for the iPhone, would we even have all the choices we have to choose from (iPhone, Android, Windows 7 phones)? That's the beauty of a free market. Apple is free to have tight reigns on their products which in turn drives innovation from other companies to create competing products. That gives us, the consumer, choices. That's better than some other countries where you don't have a choice.

I'll take Apple existing to help drive the market over having only one choice.

 

[fakie]

rest in peace

 

[euston]

Along with how terrific the C language is, The K&R C book is still the best programming reference I own. Thin and concise while containing a reference to and an example of everything someone who programmed the base C language might ever need.

It's strange how strongly I reacted to this news. C was my first language, and I've been aware of Mr. Ritchie's influence since the first time I programmed a computer, and now, he's gone.

 

[del35]

[Steve Jobs was a great man. But he would have been nowhere without giants like Dennis Ritchie./quote]

Steve Jobs greatness stems from his skills at propaganda, receiving unconditional MSM support, and deceit.

 

[del35]

What a sad sad month for the IT world.

Yes it is sad that true genius of the IT world died. Dennis was no propagandist, defrauder of the gullible masses. He was just smart and demur.

 

[DSpider]

Wasn't Windows initially written in C?

 

[del35]

Steve Jobs was merely a profiteer with street smarts at the right time

He was also a con-artist with unconditional support of the narrowly owned MSM. The media is not telling us about Dennis, but still insists on proudly trumpeting non stop their "genius" Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs was a good actor and impostor. It sadden me to see great men like Dennis pass away with so little commentary on his contribution to inf. technology and civilization.

 

[del35]

he's the father of modern computing he dies and no1 cares. just look at the number of comments. Compare it to steve jobs that didn't do anything productive other then sue other companies over silly patents.

So fucking true. So tragic. When are the people going to demand freedom from MSM propaganda?

 

[reggieray]

RIP, a real innovator.

 

[hoof_hearted]

Nothing against Steve Jobs, but Dennis Ritchie deserves much more credit for his contribution to the computing industry. Eveything, at some point, is written in C or at the very least had to use something written in C to even exist (maybe assembly). The whole industry including Microsoft, Apple, etc own him a debt of gratitude.
/**/

 

[jundaboy]

Thanks you very much for UNIX and other Linux based OSs Dennis. Its people like this we should remember who made so much possible in the IT world we live in today. Not bloody Steve Jobs.

 

[anony2004]

No need to compare Jobs and Ritchie people, both were greats in their own rights, somebody had to come earlier and lay foundation for others to benefit. Sad month for IT nevertheless.