Dennis Ritchie, RIP

Thu Oct 13 23:19:09 PDT 2011

On Thu, Oct 13, 2011 at 01:32:16PM -0700, David Wolfskill wrote:
> I've been informed in various ways that Dennis Ritchie has died.
> 
> Particularly since we, as (former, or perhaps "no longer professional,"
> in my case) sysadmins, we have reason to appreciate the value of
> infrastructure, we can appreciate the value of someone who contributed
> so significantly to the fundamental tools with which our environments
> have been built.
> 
> I'm a bit pleased that on one occasion, I actually had the presence of
> mind to thank him -- he & I were the sole occupants of an elevator car
> at a USENIX in San Diego.
> 
> I also recall that after one of Kirk's BSD/CSRG history talks at USENIX
> (I think this one was in Monterey), Dennis pointed out that when he &
> his colleagues at Bell Labs were working on UNIX, they did so with the
> intent to share it.
> 
> The world's a better place for his contributions, IMO.

I once had the privilege of meeting him at a USENIX conference about 10
years ago. I remember, after talking to him for a few minuets, blurting
out, "You and Kernighan are the 2 guys who made my career possible."

I told my father, who teaches computer science at ODU in Virginia, that I
had met Dennis Ritchie and that he was present at the creation. My father
said "No, Kernighan and Ritchie had said 'Let there be light".

It's sad that another giant in computers has passed away.

Josef

-- 
Josef Grosch           |  Another day closer to  | FreeBSD 8.2
jgrosch at MooseRiver.com |  Redwood heaven         | Berkeley, Ca.

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