[clug] 'Wired' on Dennis Ritchie

[steve jenkin]

Robert Edwards wrote on 17/10/11 3:01 PM:
> 
> I guess this list should contain at least a few more comments about the
> passing of dmr, who truly deserves our praise and gratitude.
> 
> Kudos to you, Dennis. Your work will live on for generations to come.
> 
> Bob Edwards.

Thanks.

Another link a friend sent, looking from a tech perspective:
[worth reading the beginning segments. Quoted paras near the end]

<https://plus.google.com/112218872649456413744/posts/dfydM2Cnepe>

That is why the mainstream press and the general population has talked
so much about Steve Jobs' death and comparatively so little about Dennis
Ritchie's: Steve's influence was at a layer that most people could see,
while Dennis' was much deeper.

 On the one hand, I can imagine where the computing world would be
without the work that Jobs did and the people he inspired:
 probably a bit less shiny, a bit more beige, a bit more square.

 Deep inside, though, our devices would still work the same way and do
the same things.

 On the other hand, I literally can't imagine where the computing world
would be without the work that Ritchie did and the people he inspired.

By the mid 80s, Ritchie's influence had taken over, and even back then
very little remained of the pre-Ritchie world.

Finally, last but not least, that is why our patent system is broken:
 technology has done such an amazing job at hiding its complexity that
the people regulating and running the patent system are barely even
aware of the complexity of what they're regulating and running.

--