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Dennis Ritchie Dies, Aged 70.

Comments

  • #2
    AwayWithFaries
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 452 ✭✭AwayWithFaries


    Probably made as much if not more of a contribution to Computer Science that Steve Jobs yet no one will ever know who he was. Pity, people like this deserve to be celebrated


  • #3
    Manach
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 9,768 Mod ✭✭✭✭Manach


    May he RIP.
    Further mention on the bbc site. link


  • #4
    Sheeps
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,763 ✭✭✭Sheeps


    His book (and obviously his programming language) "The C Programming Language" was invaluable to me in my final year project. His name will forever be remembered in the history of computing.


  • #5
    Tom Dunne
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 23,212 ✭✭✭✭Tom Dunne


    Yeah, saw this yesterday.

    I actually thought he was much older, for some reason.


  • #6
    davoxx
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 2,539 ✭✭✭davoxx


    why is there only one thread and buried here when jobs had over 10 all over boards?

    surely the people who saw the great changes jobs brought realise that without c, there would be none of that.

    anyway, i've always wondered what the world would be like there had been some changes in c when it was designed ... did c makes technology better for it's shortcomings or did it hold it back.


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  • #7
    Khannie
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 37,485 ✭✭✭✭Khannie


    C is bleedin' mega. Compared to the alternatives at the time I consider it a massive step forward.

    RIP Mr. Ritchie.


  • #8
    croo
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 1,336 Mod ✭✭✭✭croo


    davoxx wrote: »
    why is there only one thread and buried here when jobs had over 10 all over boards?
    There is a thread in the Open Source forum too!
    davoxx wrote: »
    anyway, i've always wondered what the world would be like there had been some changes in c when it was designed ... did c makes technology better for it's shortcomings or did it hold it back.
    I think in today's homogenised hardware market it can be difficult to understand the true value of Richie's C. But when you remember that back then, porting an application effectively meant rewriting it. To a large extent with C that became a recompile - okay admittedly it wasn't always that simple but it was a vast improvement on what went before. As for UNIX well I think we all here understand the benefits of a modular OS.


  • #9
    Tom Dunne
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 23,212 ✭✭✭✭Tom Dunne


    davoxx wrote: »
    why is there only one thread and buried here when jobs had over 10 all over boards?

    surely the people who saw the great changes jobs brought realise that without c, there would be none of that.

    anyway, i've always wondered what the world would be like there had been some changes in c when it was designed ... did c makes technology better for it's shortcomings or did it hold it back.

    Do you really think the average punter knows what an operating system is, never mind the c language? :)


  • #10
    davoxx
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 2,539 ✭✭✭davoxx


    Tom Dunne wrote: »
    Do you really think the average punter knows what an operating system is, never mind the c language? :)
    i honestly thought they would ... they might not know it, but they should have heard of it ...

    just like i never knew nor cared about apple, i still knew about their crappy services ... i suppose i just listen :D


  • #11
    Eliot Rosewater
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,745 ✭✭✭Eliot Rosewater


    Dennis Ritchie made the direct precursors to two things I love: Linux and C++. As croo said, thanks Dennis. :)


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  • #12
    two wheels good
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,996 ✭✭✭two wheels good


    Another obit here
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/oct/13/dennis-ritchie


  • #13
    gerryk
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,726 ✭✭✭gerryk


    AwayWithFaries wrote: »
    Probably made as much if not more of a contribution to Computer Science that Steve Jobs yet no one will ever know who he was. Pity, people like this deserve to be celebrated

    With respect, Steve Jobs made no contribution to computer science. He definitely contributed to the usability of computers and revolutionised the mobile/portable computing space, while making digital distribution of music and video respectable, but none of this contributes to the science of computing.


  • #14
    Skrynesaver
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,110 ✭✭✭Skrynesaver


    croo wrote: »
    I think in today's homogenised hardware market it can be difficult to understand the true value of Richie's C. But when you remember that back then, porting an application effectively meant rewriting it. To a large extent with C that became a recompile...
    This is so true, in one of the obits I read, someone described C, not as a high-level language, but as a machine independent assembly... while not strictly true, C is probably as close to the bare metal as you can get without writing machine specific code.

    I haven't written in C for a long time now, but it was my third language and I still have a fondness for it (until I'm debugging someone else's monstrosity)


  • #15
    mach1982
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 760 ✭✭✭mach1982


    davoxx wrote: »
    why is there only one thread and buried here when jobs had over 10 all over boards?

    surely the people who saw the great changes jobs brought realise that without c, there would be none of that.

    .

    Most would not have a clue what C, C ++ ,Java are.

    Henry Ford did not invent the internal combustion engine, he figured a way to to exploit and sell it.


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