NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] A Few Brief Thoughts on the Death of Computer Science Titan Dennis Ritchie
A Few Brief Thoughts on the Death of Computer Science Titan Dennis Ritchie
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000903.html
Dennis Ritchie has died after a long illness ( http://j.mp/pQfU8J [CNET]).
He was only the relatively young age of 70. Unlike Steve Jobs, Dennis
was not a household name. He should have been, but he was a quiet and
private person, and would have hated the publicity.
I've known Dennis since the early days of the UNIX operating system at
Bell Labs in the 70s, where he created the ubiquitous "C" programming
language, and co-created UNIX with Ken Thompson.
It is impossible to overstate the importance of this work to today's
world. UNIX was almost entirely written in "C" -- and UNIX's direct
descendants like Linux power Google, the Web at large (the vast
majority of Web servers run Linux), and likely multiple devices in
your home and office right now. The current Mac OS. Android. TiVo.
The impact of C and Linux are everywhere. Your ability to read these
words rests directly to a major degree on Dennis' work.
But beyond the nitty-gritty of software design, the creation of UNIX
was also the inception of what would ultimately become the open source
community, and the vast collaborations of the ARPANET/Internet that
have led to the global phenomenon we see today.
Such goals were explicit in the design of UNIX. In this 1980s Bell
Labs video from my collection, featuring Ken and Dennis explaining the
origins of UNIX, Dennis explains how they wanted the system to
specifically foster community and fellowship.
( http://j.mp/g5aahn [YouTube] )
I said this would be brief. I'll close with one personal story. Back
in the early UNIX days, on one of my visits to Bell Labs' main
facilities in Murray Hill, New Jersey, I was sitting at a terminal in
the 1127 Labs where UNIX was developed, logged in over the nascent Net
back to UCLA. As usual, I was trying to get a bit of coding done even
on this trip.
My rapid typing suddenly stopped as I puzzled over a particularly
complex C language declaration in the program, that definitely was
incorrect as it stood.
Sitting at the terminal next to me was Dennis. So I asked his advice
on the declaration -- after all, who better to know than the creator
of the language?
He thought about it for no more than a few seconds, then immediately
(and graciously) provided an elegant solution that, frankly, would not
have occurred to me. I got on with my programming.
In later years, I realized that this exchange was probably the closest
I'd ever come in my life to asking a question directly to, and
receiving a detailed answer from, a true god.
Rest in peace, Dennis.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com): http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org
Founder:
- Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org
- Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance: http://www.gctip.org
- PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Google+: http://vortex.com/g+lauren
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com