Rob Pike: Dennis Ritchie has died • Hacker News Board

Re: Rob Pike: Dennis Ritchie has died

#51

Post by protomyth » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 2:40 AM UTC

I learned BASIC and 6502 assembly in high school then went to college where the main language was Modula-2 on an IBM 370. I hated Modula-2 and wondered how people actually wrote those cool programs on PCs. It just seems like all the possibilities of assembly really weren't there. It just seemed wrong.

Took an optional language class in C which used the K&R C book (draft ANSI C edition) taught on the VAX and was finally able to say "Oh, I get it now". Bought Turbo C 2.0 and had a blast.

This is just a truly sucky month.

Re: Rob Pike: Dennis Ritchie has died

#52

Post by codehalo » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 2:41 AM UTC

Dennis Ritchie. Hello World. May he rest in peace.

Re: Rob Pike: Dennis Ritchie has died

#53

Post by _THE_PLAGUE » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 2:45 AM UTC

The K&R textbook is still my programming "bible". I don't use C on a regular basis, or at least as not as much as I'd like to, but still refer to it, even so. IMO, people should learn C first - teaches the right principles.

Re: Rob Pike: Dennis Ritchie has died

#54

Post by simon » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 2:46 AM UTC

DMR was one of my heroes. Rest In Peace Sir.

I learned C from the first edition of K&R back in 1989 (iirc) on an Atari ST using the Sozobon C compiler. Happy memories (except for learning to combine pointers and loops and null terminated strings correctly! :-)

Re: Rob Pike: Dennis Ritchie has died

#55

Post by jbondeson » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 2:53 AM UTC

It almost seems impossible to imagine men like Ritchie leaving us. His efforts helped usher in the modern computing age.

While he is no longer with us in person, may his legacy never be forgotten by those of use who have had the honor to stand on his titanic shoulders.

Truly he will be missed.

Re: Rob Pike: Dennis Ritchie has died

#56

Post by pjscott » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 2:55 AM UTC

bootload wrote: post #31

#include main() { printf("goodbye, world\n"); }

Considering the tragic nature of the situation, the exit status should be nonzero.

    #include 
    
    int main(void) {
        printf("goodbye, world\n");
        return 1;
    }

Re: Rob Pike: Dennis Ritchie has died

#57

Post by zizee » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 3:02 AM UTC

I'm didn't know the man but it's always sad to see one of the greats fall.

I seem to have mislaid my copy of the 'The C Programming Language', which is a shame as it is one of the few of the many programming books I have purchased over the years that continues to be relevant in this fast changing (and exiting) field.

RIP dmr, my condolences to your family and friends. You will be missed and your contributions appreciated by hackers the world over.

Re: Rob Pike: Dennis Ritchie has died

#58

Post by malbs » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 3:02 AM UTC

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.

Re: Rob Pike: Dennis Ritchie has died

#59

Post by m0nastic » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 3:02 AM UTC

goodnight wrote: post #36

RIP Dennis. Now that's a guy worth mourning about. I'll check CNN and the BBC to see their special reports, surely if they had them when some marketing CEO kicked the bucket they'll give at least ten times the amount of coverage to a man who was 100 times his better!

In the realm of news, almost no one knows who Dennis Ritchie was. You can lament that fact (obviously, to anyone even remotely related to computing he was a figure of paramount importance), but it's ridiculous to expect the mainstream press to understand that importance.

Analogies are tenuous, but when Michael Jackson died, it was obviously big news. It was all over television. Nobody reported when Ross Snyder‡ died, even though his influence was of great importance. That's the way these things work.

‡If anyone didn't know, Ross invented the multitrack recorder, one of the most transformative tools in music production.

Re: Rob Pike: Dennis Ritchie has died

#60

Post by spodek » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 3:04 AM UTC

His great works had such amazing style -- simple, elegant, meaningful, effective. I think this sentence, which he not only co-authored but also executed on, summarizes it in plain English, all the more so when you read it from the small book in your hands.

"C is not a big language, and it is not well served by a big book."

These words have guided my writing as much as anything in Elements of Style.