Dennis Ritchie, Programming Trailblazer, Dies at 70

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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/14/technology/dennis-ritchie-programming-trailblazer-dies-at-70.html"> NY Times Obituary

"Dennis M. Ritchie, who helped shape the modern digital era by creating software tools that power things as diverse as search engines like Google and smartphones, was found dead on Wednesday at his home in Berkeley Heights, N.J. He was 70.

Mr. Ritchie, who lived alone, was in frail health in recent years after treatment for prostate cancer and heart disease, said his brother Bill.

In the late 1960s and early '70s, working at Bell Labs, Mr. Ritchie made a pair of lasting contributions to computer science. He was the principal designer of the C programming language and co-developer of the Unix operating system, working closely with Ken Thompson, his longtime Bell Labs collaborator. "


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C and Unix were both tremendously important in the development of modern technology -- and, by extension, the modern world. It is strange and disappointing to think that most people have never heard of Ritchie and will not mark his passing.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

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