http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/business-of-it/2011/10/13/dennis-ritchie-father-of-unix-and-c-dies-40094176/
I (http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/business-of-it/2011/10/13/dennis-ritchie-father-of-unix-and-c-dies-40094176/)t's a sad testament that I only found out today that one of the most important figures in computing passed away three weeks ago. Dennis Richie invented Unix on which every decent modern operating system is based, as well as some not so decent ones too. Not content with that he then went on to create the C programming language, which at a stroke allowed programmers to write code that could run on multiple platforms rather than being limited to the machines they were developed on.
The media has been awash with stories about Steve Jobs who owned a company that made nice mobile phones but didn't feel moved to report the death of a man who's work has touched every single person on earth who has benefited from computer technology either directly or indirectly.
Referenced in Twisted's post at the bottom of this link (http://www.deadmen.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?34061-quot-Just-win-baby-quot-Al-Davis-1929-2011). Not surprised it was missed!
I saw quite a few articles along the lines of "The real loss to computing this week" etc...
But they were dwarfed by the number of people who were praising Jobs for everything from being a god like figure to claiming he's the most influential man in gaming. I mean seriously. Mac is a platform generally reguarded as being PC without gaming. The iPhone is a portable Angry Birds player, games more complicated have been generally let down by the lack of physical buttons. I fail to see what he did for gaming that Gabe Newell (Valve Co-Founder) didn't beat a thousand times over with truly epic story telling of the Half Life and Portal series, the facial expression technology added in HL2, the caliber of multiplayer brought in the Counterstrike. Those are just games and gaming technologies. That leaves out steam which has completely changed PC gaming, allowing play from any location, games that are always up to date, painless joining servers of steamworks games...but no apparently Steve Jobs did way more than that with computers that don't play games and a phone where the user catapults birds at pigs.
It's sad that someone like Steve Jobs takes the spot light off of someone so much more influential in modern computing. However it's hard to do a news story about someone who wrote a computing language that the public don't know even exists.
I feel slightly ashamed that I've never heard of this man before. Truly a great loss.
I think you're being a bit harsh on Steve Jobs there, by the way. It's quite right that the media over-reacted to his passing (don't they always?), but he was a massively influential figure. Apple probably wouldn't exist today if it wasn't for Steve Jobs, and whatever your feelings towards them it would be just one less competitor for the Microsoft juggernaut...
I missed Twisted's post, sorry for that. Jobs was influential, but the hype outweighed the actual contribution he made to technology, which was considerable but not as far reaching as the media would suggest. IMHO
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C lives on in every computer as will Richie's influence.
The same can be said for UNIX, MAC OS, LINUX, ANDROID, your router firmware, your TV, Camera, they all will be using Richie's code and fundamental ideas.
He will live on and his legacy is giving us the gift of the most stable and widely used kernel of all time.
Quote from: Tutonic;336675I feel slightly ashamed that I've never heard of this man before. Truly a great loss.
I think you're being a bit harsh on Steve Jobs there, by the way. It's quite right that the media over-reacted to his passing (don't they always?), but he was a massively influential figure. Apple probably wouldn't exist today if it wasn't for Steve Jobs, and whatever your feelings towards them it would be just one less competitor for the Microsoft juggernaut...
Apple wouldn't exist without Steve Jobs. He was Co-Founder, got kicked out the company, formed Pixar and a couple of other huge companies and then returned to save Apple from the brink of failure (might be an exaggeration but Apple certainly wouldn't have been as big without products like the iPod and iPhone). I didn't say he wasn't a hugely influential character and he's helped to shape the world of mobile computing, especially the hardware side of things. Mobile phones, laptops and tablets have been refined massively to keep up with innovations from Apple and I think we'd be 3-5 years behind current mainstream technology in those areas had they not existed. That is more than worthy of praise.
However gaming? I fail to see how he's the most influential man in gaming, and it's a sign of how when someone famous dies their achievements are massively overstated compared to someone who is not generally known by the public whereby their contributions are understated to the point where someone who laid down the building blocks for almost every programming language (and so every computer program in existence - iOS uses objective C) could get so little press.
Personally I think that Steve Jobs gave more to the world with PIXAR by bringing animators and computer scientists together to make a new film medium, which is now bringing joy to millions. Well done Steve for seeing the vision and getting the right people.
As for Apple bringing innovation to the table.... I would disagree strongly with that, they simply packaged current ideas in a shiny box and made it a fashion statement and "life ethos". They certainly have been a good competitor to others in the marketplace and this was healthy for a while (as all of the idiots were buying their overpriced hardware), however more recently they are stifling innovation in the courts by claiming that sliced bread was their idea.
Steve Jobs was both a good and bad influence on society, however in my eyes was too much a leader of a cult, preaching to some very fanatical followers.
Others deserve more praise for their accomplishments in computing, as Steve didn't have any breakthroughs in Computing science, Maths or Physics.
Steve made an impact on the world in the most public way; while others quietly got in with it as their discoveries which underpin all technology we currently use.
DZ
Quote from: smilodon;336645
I (http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/business-of-it/2011/10/13/dennis-ritchie-father-of-unix-and-c-dies-40094176/)t's a sad testament that I only found out today that one of the most important figures in computing passed away three weeks ago.
Well you should read my posts :narnar: 16/10/2011
http://www.deadmen.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?34031-Steve-Jobs-1955-2011&p=334983&highlight=#post334983
Oops again, too many threads on this forum by far, post less people.....
It's good to see some of the community are more up to date with technology news than me, although on second thoughts that's no great achievement.
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