[Info-vax] RIP: Dennis Ritchie (UNIX / C)

[JF Mezei]

Neil Rieck wrote:

> I'm not saying that Steve Jobs was a slouch, but in hindsight I think
> it is fair to say that the work of Dennis Ritchie changed the world in
> more ways than most people realize. Playing the six-degrees-of-
> separtaion game...


The guy who builds the foundations gets less glory than the guy who puts
the antenna on tip of a building to make it the world's tallest.

Ritchie was one who worked on the foundations of Unix and many other OS
because C was/is used everywhere.  Less visible work to the public than
Jobs who put the shine on his gizmos and attracted the word's attention.

Ritchie built tools that enabled Jobs to change the world by making
those tools usable by the masses.

There are a few "tool builders" such as Vint Cerf who have gotten
wordwide recognition though. But this is mostly because they got
involved in public policy and got known.