[Sheflug] R.I.P. Dennis Ritchie

[(Ted Harding) <ted.harding@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Good morning.

This morning's news reports the death of Dennis Ritchie:

  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15287391

at the age of 70 (I hadn't realised before that he was
younger than me ... ).

That news article is not bad on the importance of UNIX
and C. However, it could have tried a bit harder to
describe the merits of UNIX as an operating system.

I like to think of using UNIX as though it were a
system of mountain streams, some of them torrents,
some trickles, but all joining up and crystal clear.
You could get to any part of the system by climbing
the rocks, if you are agile enough. The things you drop
into them here and there get carried down and emerge
in the desired order and relationships, provided you
drop them in at the right times and places.

By contrast, systems which emerged 20-30 years after
the early years of UNIX are more like the garishly
decorated interior of a sluggish pleasure cruiser,
with smudgy windows that you can't see out of while
being served with cheap champagne and burgers, as the
vessel lurches along a stagnant drab canal and lumps
of effluent slap up against its bows, sometimes piling
up and bringing it to a halt -- whereupon it sinks,
leaving the passengers spashing and floundering in
the mess.

I hope we shall be seeing proper tributes to the
clarity, simplicity and completeness of the original
UNIX concept and implementation, and to its well
deserved longevity, which owe so much to Dennis Ritchie
and the other founder members of the UNIX team.

Best wishes to all,
Ted.

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E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <ted.harding@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861
Date: 14-Oct-11                                       Time: 08:44:50
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