Rob Pike: Dennis Ritchie has died • Hacker News Board

Re: Rob Pike: Dennis Ritchie has died

#141

Post by zhyder » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 8:54 AM UTC

keidian wrote: post #62

xxpor wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Including all of the tech that Steve Jobs had a significant impact on.

Exactly. When I first found out about dmr, I really really hoped the stories will flood in here after the massive Steve Jobs amount. Not to take anything away from Steve, but dmr is far more important in my opinion, and I'm sure many other geeks would agree. I'm glad he isn't just quietly being forgotten like I feared he would.

I think Steve Jobs's passing away was a bigger shock to people because the memory of him and his accomplishments was/is very fresh in people's minds. He was the CEO of Apple till just over a month ago.

It's like finding out a friend passed away and "I just met him last week..."

Re: Rob Pike: Dennis Ritchie has died

#142

Post by akv » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 9:02 AM UTC

luckydude wrote: post #90

Any chance we could get the guy who did the Steve Jobs Apple logo to take a wack at doing one for Dennis? I've never met Dennis but I've talked to him on the phone a bit, and exchanged a pile of email over the years, all about various Unix topics. Though I was nobody, he was always polite, always patient, always willing to pass on knowledge. I'm quite grateful to him for taking the time to exchange ideas and polish t…

Is it possible for you to share the awk tarball you mention?

Re: Rob Pike: Dennis Ritchie has died

#143

Post by sid0 » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 9:03 AM UTC

angrycoder wrote: post #118

sid0 wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But Dennis didn't wear black turtlenecks everyday so obviously he's less important.

Both Jobs and Ritchie were important men. I don't know what you think you are going to accomplish here. Your posts are about neither of them, they are all about you.

I'm merely citing the fluff that has occupied Hacker News recently such as http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3100278.

What sane, non-obsessed person gives a flying fuck what uniform someone wore and why they wore it?

Re: Rob Pike: Dennis Ritchie has died

#144

Post by sid0 » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 9:08 AM UTC

InclinedPlane wrote: post #121

sid0 wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

let's not compare both. Ah yes, the cognitive dissonance of an Apple fanboy developer who knows that C is far more important than anything SJ ever did yet can't reconcile that with their belief that SJ was god. Shame on Hacker News's audience that the front page isn't filled up with Dennis stories right now.

There's no shame, there just aren't the same type of stories about Dennis. Ritchie was a hacker, he created amazing things that were ahead of their time which have enabled a great many developers to build amazing things (including essentially the entirety of the infrastructure of the internet and the web). But so much of Ritchie's work was enabling and mentoring rather than directing and guiding (which was more Jobs'…

I meant "stories" in the journalistic sense.

Re: Rob Pike: Dennis Ritchie has died

#145

Post by deepinit_a » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 9:14 AM UTC

We owe You Dennis...

Re: Rob Pike: Dennis Ritchie has died

#146

Post by teja1990 » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 9:20 AM UTC

steveb wrote: post #25

There are several billion people using many billions of devices every day. From the code in your microwave to massive computing clusters, virtually all of our software can trace its ancestry back to this man's intellectual output. I'm eternally grateful for his life and contributions to humanity.

Absolutely. Half of the world uses Unix flavours be it linux or any other OS( Mac OSX) , most of the realtime critical apps run on unix. Most of the primitive codes are written in C , first language most people learn is C(atleast for me).

With Unix and C , he has changed the way people think of computers and the way of talking to them.

Re: Rob Pike: Dennis Ritchie has died

#147

Post by xtracto » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 9:21 AM UTC

malbs wrote: post #58

rkalla wrote: post #19

I wonder how many people here got to know Ritchie through "The C Programming Language", I am sure half of us have it on our shelves. It is amazing how many lives a single person can touch directly and indirectly. I hope Ritchie passed away knowing the unforgettable contribution he made to the world as we all move forward on a platform he set down for us more than 30 years ago. What an awesome legacy to leave behind.…

Actually when I read the post just now, I went to the shelf and picked up my copy of it and just placed it on my desk, he had a major impact on my life. I "feel" more of a loss about Dennis' passing than Steve's.

Indeed. I was saddened by the dead of Steve Jobs. And although I comprehend his contribution to humanity, I was never "personally" touched by his products (e.g. I have never owned an Apple product).

Dennis Ritchie is a different thing. As other people have pointed, in my opinion there is no current technology that was not "touched" by the contributions that R&K did. Being it Unix or C, these are two of the most important software creations in history.

Re: Rob Pike: Dennis Ritchie has died

#148

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 9:27 AM UTC

skeptical wrote: post #139

biot wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> C is far more important than anything SJ ever did That's like saying the paintbrush is far more important than the paintings of Michelangelo or da Vinci.

A paintbrush is indeed far more important than the painting of Michel Angelo or da Vinci from an historical point of view. On top of that, there are thousands of programming language today, many relying deeply on concepts and paradigms that are much younger than C itself, but C remains one of the most used languages. Not only C is very much used, it's still the only option in many cases and it is by far, the language…

[deleted]

Re: Rob Pike: Dennis Ritchie has died

#149

Post by moeffju » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 9:32 AM UTC

Just looking at the stuff on my desk, the only things Dennis Ritchie has not directly or indirectly contributed to are two photos, a pair of scissors, a screwdriver and a salami.

Cellphone? Check. Harddisks? Screens? USB devices? TAN generator? Wacom tablet? Applet remote? Mac mini? MacBook Pro? Camera? Check, check, check.

Thanks, Dennis Ritchie, for helping to create the foundations of computing as we know it.

Re: Rob Pike: Dennis Ritchie has died

#150

Post by thepointyhat » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 9:49 AM UTC

jburwell wrote: post #37

Two visi0naries lost in one week. Unfortunately, Dennis Ritchie's passing will not get the level of coverage of Steve Jobs, but he deserves it. Without his critical contributions, the UNIX core of Steve Jobs' great products could not exist ...

Correction: one visionary, one businessman.