Rob Pike: Dennis Ritchie has died • Hacker News Board

Re: Rob Pike: Dennis Ritchie has died

#91

Post by scrrr » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 4:57 AM UTC

When I was a student a professor joked that computer science wasn't really a science because all its founders were still alive. Well, now it certainly must be one.

Re: Rob Pike: Dennis Ritchie has died

#92

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 4:59 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…

[deleted]

Re: Rob Pike: Dennis Ritchie has died

#93

Post by pjscott » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 5:02 AM UTC

phillco wrote: post #78

pjscott wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Considering the tragic nature of the situation, the exit status should be nonzero. #include int main(void) { printf("goodbye, world\n"); return 1; }

What if he died peacefully? return 0;

Dying peacefully is still dying.

    return 1;

Re: Rob Pike: Dennis Ritchie has died

#94

Post by santo » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 5:04 AM UTC

RIP....

Re: Rob Pike: Dennis Ritchie has died

#95

Post by nikcub » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 5:11 AM UTC

zmitri wrote: post #73

CamperBob wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

It's true, he preferred the brackets formatted this way.

it is a sure-fire way to distinguish between developers who learnt to code a while ago from K&R and those who didn't.

I can't stand looking at braces on new lines. It is all from back when a new line was something to be treasured as displays were bad.

Re: Rob Pike: Dennis Ritchie has died

#96

Post by Tloewald » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 5:16 AM UTC

xxpor wrote: post #44

InclinedPlane wrote: post #39

If you have used technology of any sort over the last few decades there's a pretty decent chance that you've used technology that Steve Jobs had a significant impact on. But the chances are 100.00% that you've used technology Dennis Ritchie has had a deeply profound impact on.

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

Not the Apple II or the original Mac really (which was all Pascal and 68k ASM). (Lisa definitely took cues from Unix.) Not detracting from Ritchie's contributions, but be fair.

Even Ritche was building on B and Algol.

Re: Rob Pike: Dennis Ritchie has died

#97

Post by flipper » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 5:18 AM UTC

To paraphrase the epitaph of Sir Christopher Wren - if you seek his monument, log in.

Re: Rob Pike: Dennis Ritchie has died

#98

Post by sid0 » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 5:23 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.

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

Re: Rob Pike: Dennis Ritchie has died

#99

Post by teja1990 » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 5:23 AM UTC

I you have ever used a computer or any programming language , it means that you used some thing that has Dennis Ritchie's impact.

Re: Rob Pike: Dennis Ritchie has died

#100

Post by sid0 » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 5:27 AM UTC

chugger wrote: post #82

keidian wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

DMR created. SJ inspired. let's not compare both.

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.