A sad day for the history of computing, the loss of a great language designer, that influenced many of us in better ways to approach systems programming.
Niklaus Wirth has died
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Re: Niklaus Wirth has died
#22@HN: Black banner, please?
If there was ever a reason for one, this is it.
Re: Niklaus Wirth has died
#23Wirth was the chief designer of the programming languages Euler (1965), PL360 (1966), ALGOL W (1966), Pascal (1970), Modula (1975), Modula-2 (1978), Oberon (1987), Oberon-2 (1991), and Oberon-07 (2007). He was also a major part of the design and implementation team for the operating systems Medos-2 (1983, for the Lilith workstation), and Oberon (1987, for the Ceres workstation), and for the Lola (1995) digital hardwa…
Also collaborated with Apple on Object Pascal initial design, his students on Component Pascal, Active Oberon, Zonnon, and many other research projects derived from Oberon.
Re: Niklaus Wirth has died
#24I loved the book Compiler Construction. Wirth's emphasis on minimalism is a huge inspiration.
I haven't read that one yet, but "Algorithms + Data Structures = Programs" is just an absolutely beautiful gem of a book. It embodies his principles of simplicity and clarity. Even though it's outdated in many places, I adored reading it.
Re: Niklaus Wirth has died
#25One of the titans of the era, Pascal greatly contributed to my love of programming and my eventual career. Rest in peace Dr. Wirth.
Re: Niklaus Wirth has died
#26Wirth was the chief designer of the programming languages Euler (1965), PL360 (1966), ALGOL W (1966), Pascal (1970), Modula (1975), Modula-2 (1978), Oberon (1987), Oberon-2 (1991), and Oberon-07 (2007). He was also a major part of the design and implementation team for the operating systems Medos-2 (1983, for the Lilith workstation), and Oberon (1987, for the Ceres workstation), and for the Lola (1995) digital hardwa…
I learned Pascal and MODULA-2 in college, in my first two programming semesters. MODULA-2 was removed shortly afterwards but Pascal is still used in the introductory programming course. I'm very happy to have had these as the languages that introduced me to programming and Wirth occupies a very special place in my heart. His designs were truly ahead of their time.
Re: Niklaus Wirth has died
#27I'm happy to say I got to meet him, thanks to Charles Simonyi. May his memory be a blessing.
I was at the session he did at CERN back in 2004, but sadly never managed to talk to him.
Re: Niklaus Wirth has died
#28I loved the book Compiler Construction. Wirth's emphasis on minimalism is a huge inspiration.
I haven't read that one yet, but "Algorithms + Data Structures = Programs" is just an absolutely beautiful gem of a book. It embodies his principles of simplicity and clarity. Even though it's outdated in many places, I adored reading it.
That's the other one I keep hearing about, must read it.
Re: Niklaus Wirth has died
#29A sad day for the history of computing, the loss of a great language designer, that influenced many of us in better ways to approach systems programming.
It is sad but the guy had long and fulfilling life many can only dream about. I would raise a toast to that. Hopefully he is in a coding Valhalla.