I first learned of Dennis Ritchie when I attended my first Computer Camp at Translyvania University, and sat in on a lecture on the history of computers by Tylene Garrett. When I attended college, I spent my first year programming Pascal. Then in May Term, Dr. Garrett offered C/C++ as a class. I never looked back at Pascal, or Basic. C/C++ was definitely the language of the future. Even today, the world of Java around us, Native code is still implemented in C/C++. As a Software Engineer, I see it will be many years down the road before C/C++ is replaced, Java has not replaced it, in fact Java is built on top of C/C++.
Steve Jobs made some wonderful devices, but the MP3 Player was around before the iPod, the SmartPhone was around before the iPhone, and UNIX was around a long time before the iMac. I could go on with the list, but my point is Steve Jobs was an incredible marketer, he took devices that were not popular, put a new twist on the interface, and sold it to billions. He had the help of many brilliant people at Apple.
Dennis Ritchie, built a language, and gave it to the world to do as they wish with it. The world has answered back with some of the most amazing things:
- IBM
- Microsoft
- Apple
- Sun Microsystems
- Oracle
- ….. (list any software company, many hardware companies in the world.)
Dennis didn’t just leave a legacy, he left a world for you and me to live in. A world he quietly sat and watch grow