Posted by: Marius Constantinescu
Dennis MacAlistair Ritchie (commonly known by his username dmr) father of C and Unix, died on Wednesday after a long unspecified illness. His famous “hello, world” program, used in almost all programming textbooks, helped generations of programers to start coding in a new language.
C programming language, created by Dennis Ritchie, represents a giant step in information technology and remains even today the second most popular programming language in the world. Ritchie was also instrumental in the development of Unix along with Ken Thompson.
Ritchie is one of the most important engineers of the modern era. His work, specifically in relation to UNIX, led to him becoming a joint recipient of the Turing Award with Ken Thompson in 1983, as well as a recipient of the National Medal of Technology in 1998 from then-president Bill Clinton.
RIP Dennis Ritchie and thank you for your vital contribution to the computer programming world!
