Ask HN: Who is the best computer programmer of all times?

#1

Post by xqb64 » Sun, Jul 05, 2026, 6:33 PM UTC

My personal favorite is Fabrice Bellard.

Re: Ask HN: Who is the best computer programmer of all times?

#2

Post by jleyank » Sun, Jul 05, 2026, 6:38 PM UTC

You'd have to come up with the criteria for "best" but as an old hacker, "from MIT or Bell Labs" comes to mind as where to look. Maybe some of their spinoffs, but those sites did amazing things with basically nothing.

Re: Ask HN: Who is the best computer programmer of all times?

#3

Post by bdangubic » Sun, Jul 05, 2026, 6:39 PM UTC

Mike Evanston

Re: Ask HN: Who is the best computer programmer of all times?

#4

Post by rstagi » Sun, Jul 05, 2026, 6:43 PM UTC

"best" is a relative term, but in terms of technology we all use every day I would say either Linus Torvalds or Jeff Dean are up there among the best for sure

Re: Ask HN: Who is the best computer programmer of all times?

#5

Post by xqb64 » Sun, Jul 05, 2026, 6:46 PM UTC

jleyank wrote: post #2

You'd have to come up with the criteria for "best" but as an old hacker, "from MIT or Bell Labs" comes to mind as where to look. Maybe some of their spinoffs, but those sites did amazing things with basically nothing.

Yeah. Andy Tanenbaum described studying at MIT as "drinking from a fire hose". Do we have someone who both got their degree from MIT and worked at Bell Labs? That'd be an interesting combo.

Re: Ask HN: Who is the best computer programmer of all times?

#6

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Jul 05, 2026, 6:50 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Who is the best computer programmer of all times?

#7

Post by xqb64 » Sun, Jul 05, 2026, 6:53 PM UTC

rstagi wrote: post #4

"best" is a relative term, but in terms of technology we all use every day I would say either Linus Torvalds or Jeff Dean are up there among the best for sure

Sort of, the one who, when left stranded on a desert island, would make a CPU out of sand, write software for it, including the entire TCP/IP stack, and email someone to come get them.

Re: Ask HN: Who is the best computer programmer of all times?

#8

Post by chairmansteve » Sun, Jul 05, 2026, 7:01 PM UTC

D. Richard Hipp is up there for me.

I love the minimalism of his programs, SQLLite and Fossil. Also involved in Tcl, my favourite language.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._Richard_Hipp

Re: Ask HN: Who is the best computer programmer of all times?

#9

Post by __patchbit__ » Sun, Jul 05, 2026, 7:09 PM UTC

RMS

Re: Ask HN: Who is the best computer programmer of all times?

#10

Post by dlcarrier » Sun, Jul 05, 2026, 7:47 PM UTC

That's far too subjective of a question to have a specific answer, but obviously it's Melvin Kaye: http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/story-of-mel.html