# Dennis Ritchie (September 9, 1941 - October 9, 2011)



## jrm@ (Oct 13, 2011)

https://plus.google.com/u/0/101960720994009339267/posts/ENuEDDYfvKP?hl=en

Update: It was initially reported that he passed away on October 9th, but most sources now report it was actually on the 8th.


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## torcod (Oct 13, 2011)

I don't even know what to say....

Just wow... RIP man.


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## saxon3049 (Oct 13, 2011)

Now this is truly sad.


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## rbelk (Oct 13, 2011)

I meet Dennis once, maybe talked to him about 5 minutes. But he left a lasting impression on me about his love for simplicity and UNIX. Another one of my hero's is dead. My deepest condolences go out to his family and to the UNIX community.


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## YZMSQ (Oct 13, 2011)

R.I.P  Dennis Ritchie.


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## vermaden (Oct 13, 2011)

First very iSad day, now this ... RIP.


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## carlton_draught (Oct 13, 2011)

RIP Dennis, your legacy is immense and indisputable.


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## Beastie (Oct 13, 2011)

What a loss! RIP Dennis Richie. My condolences to the family.


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## SirDice (Oct 13, 2011)

Has anyone confirmed it? I don't like jumping to conclusions after a single Google+ post by someone.


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## SirDice (Oct 13, 2011)

Not the worlds most reliable source but his wikipedia page has been updated too.

Another sad day...


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## Dies_Irae (Oct 13, 2011)

It's amazing how the ideas of a single man can change the entire world.
Without your work, non of us would be here in this forum today.

We really miss you, Dennis.


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## drhowarddrfine (Oct 13, 2011)

At only age 70. Like Jobs, too young.


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## Carpetsmoker (Oct 13, 2011)

SirDice said:
			
		

> Has anyone confirmed it? I don't like jumping to conclusions after a single Google+ post by someone.



Rob Pike is not "someone". He is a former coworker of Dennis who worked on UNIX and later Plan 9. I'm fairly confident he would not put this "out there" if it wouldn't be accurate.

Here's a video on youtube with Penn & Teller meeting Rob Pike & Dennis Ritchie.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3149264509630913668


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## Nukama (Oct 13, 2011)

Very sad indeed. RIP Dennis Ritchie. 

2011 (27th) Japan Prize; Dr. Ritchie / Dr. Thompson

Thank to Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson for their great work.

[Edit] I also support a release dedicated to dmr.


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## jotawski (Oct 13, 2011)

I am staring at The C Programming Language book with too many emotions now.  R.I.P Dennis M. Ritchie


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## rusty (Oct 13, 2011)

Farewell Mr.Ritchie, /* raises tankard */
I wonder where would we be without your achievements?


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## aragon (Oct 13, 2011)

```
free(dmr);
```


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## UNIXgod (Oct 13, 2011)

```
main()
{
    printf("goodbye, world\n");
}
```


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## Carpetsmoker (Oct 14, 2011)

My commit in honour of Ritchie:
http://code.google.com/p/operapass/source/list

Somehow this seemed the appropriate thing to do ...


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## mobleyc (Oct 14, 2011)

It is sad to have found this out a couple of days later than when it really happened.  Since learning how to program in 2005, C was the first language I learned and where I credit my grown interest in the discipline.  I am not really that well versed with C as I took the jump to object oriented programming quite immediately though I have done some projects with C as well.


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## ramonovski (Oct 14, 2011)




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## fluca1978 (Oct 14, 2011)

RIP!

By the way, please don't even compare him to Steve Jobbs, and please have a more respect of death men.


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## shitson (Oct 14, 2011)

Don't be sad, the people who he would have wanted to be remembered by are remembering. I'm sure he would have not wanted to be remembered by people who had no real understanding of what he did for our industry/hobby/passion. 

R.I.P


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## UNIXgod (Oct 14, 2011)

shitson said:
			
		

> Don't be sad, the people who he would of wanted to remembered by are remembering. I'm sure he would of not wanted to be remembered by people who had no real understanding of what he did for our industry/hobby/passion.
> 
> R.I.P



I couldn't agree with more with this sentiment.


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## saxon3049 (Oct 14, 2011)

shitson said:
			
		

> Don't be sad, the people who he would of wanted to remembered by are remembering. I'm sure he would of not wanted to be remembered by people who had no real understanding of what he did for our industry/hobby/passion.
> 
> R.I.P



That is possibly the most worthy epitaph for him that I could ever read.


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## jrm@ (Oct 14, 2011)

http://bsdnews.net/index.php/2011/1...source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed

Quoting the last paragraph of the article:


> The[re] is a proposal on the the FreeBSD mailing list to dedicate the forthcoming 9.x release of the operating system in honor of Dennis Ritchie. I can honestly think of no better tribute tha[n] this considering all that his work has given us.



This is a nice sentiment.


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## saxon3049 (Oct 14, 2011)

That is a fantastic idea and get's my full support.


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## Beastie (Oct 14, 2011)

A well-deserved recognition of his contributions. They should definitely do that.


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## achix (Oct 15, 2011)

RIP, a good man and great engineer.
I remember i had sent him an email some 10 years back, just a hello, and the guy answered. A great person, without whom, nothing of the computing as we know it would be the same today.


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## NuLL3rr0r (Oct 15, 2011)

Without doubt C is the most influential programming language in our history, and also UNIX.

R.I.P Dennis!


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## Crivens (Oct 16, 2011)

RE: Honor release of 9.x:
This has my full support, but it leaves me sad that such things are always done when the one to be honored is no longer around to notice it.


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## NuLL3rr0r (Oct 17, 2011)

Very very good idea, and that's what called a wise decision!!


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## rbelk (Oct 17, 2011)

This has my full support also.


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## rob34 (Oct 18, 2011)

I also support dedicating FreeBSD 9.x to Dennis Ritchie.


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## aragon (Oct 18, 2011)

http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2011/10/thedennisritchieeffect/

Oh, I fully support a 9.0-DMR release too.


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## Nollo (Oct 19, 2011)

I'm disappointed the others "big ones" of computer science.

After few hours of the death of Steve Jobs, Google put a tribute for him on the main page. But nothing for DR.

I'm OK with the fact that medias are not so concerned, but in the industry we have not so much mobilization. :\


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## Beastie (Oct 19, 2011)

I was disappointed of the same thing.
It's really a shame considering the importance of dmr's work for everyone in the industry, and more specifically for companies such as Google that are using Unix-like systems on virtually all their machines.


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## rbelk (Oct 20, 2011)

I'll tell you my opinion. I think that all the major BSD's (FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, and DragonFLY) should honor Dennis in their next releases. At least use techies would appreciate it. It might even make Slashdot and then the major players might honor Dennis for his impact in the computing industry today. I am really surprised that Apple and IBM has not already put out some kind of press release. I not surprised that Microsoft hasn't, they think that they are the history of the the modern computing industry.


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## asapilu (Oct 21, 2011)

It's good idea to dedicated 9.x to him.

R.I.P dmr


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## Crivens (Oct 21, 2011)

rbelk said:
			
		

> I am really surprised that Apple and IBM has not already put out some kind of press release. I not surprised that Microsoft hasn't, they think that they are the history of the the modern computing industry.


I am not suprised, really. You would have to push that trough their PR department and make sure not to ruffle any feathers along that way.
Dennis, whom I did not know personally but who made the impression of being one who convinced with arguments, was IMHO no one for PR. Best let that remain so. 

We know that IBMs and Apples' bizz is based on Unix, and they did not toss the least little salute to him. Shame on them.


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## hitest (Oct 21, 2011)

Rest in peace, Mr. Ritchie.


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## zennybsd (Oct 21, 2011)

My condolences to Mr. Ritchie!

While supporting to dedicate future versions of OSes to Mr. Ritchie (whom I wrote some 20 years back to receive a very nice reply), I am also thinking in line of producing a comprehensive writing on the human side of Mr. Ritchie. So if there is anyone who has non-personal emails from him with some quotable quote, I would like to hear from them. Please PM me. Thanks!


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## anomie (Oct 21, 2011)

Sincere thanks to dmr for inventing, building, and evangelizing a foundation that the rest of us rely on today.


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## jake (Oct 21, 2011)

I agree 9 should be a DMR dedicated release, RIP and thank you.


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## fluca1978 (Oct 24, 2011)

I strongly encourage dedicating the whole 9 series to Mr. Ritchie.
I don't know if this has already been decided or not, if not start a poll and you will see that all the people want this too.


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## jrm@ (Oct 30, 2011)

Some comments from Tim O'Reilly about Dennis Ritchie: http://radar.oreilly.com/2011/10/dennis-ritchie-day.html


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## sk8harddiefast (Oct 30, 2011)

+1 from me too!


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## asapilu (Oct 30, 2011)

mingrone said:
			
		

> Some comments from Tim O'Reilly about Dennis Ritchie: http://radar.oreilly.com/2011/10/dennis-ritchie-day.html



All of us are talking with same language


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