Who Is Crying For The Father Of C and UNIX ???Dennis Ritchie,

     Ritchie was found dead on October 12, 2011, at the age of 70 at his home in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, where he lived alone

Apart from my obvious condolences about the passing away of computer genius Dennis Ritchie, it is also sad to note that, unlike the recent death of Steve Jobs, Ritchie's death will go all but unnoticed by the mainstream media. The fact is that without Dennis Ritchie's invention of the C computer programming language, Steve Jobs wouldn't have had one of the key components in computer programming from which he built his empire.

     It's really hard for us of the computer-age generation to believe the fact that Ritchie invented the C computer programming language as far back as 1969-1973. Weren't computers back then as big as houses and didn't do much more than number-crunch? What that tells us is that he was able to walk around inside his computer.

    And whilst walking around inside his computer he created what is the foundation stone of modern computing. The C language is still widely used today in application and operating system development, and its influence is seen in most modern programming languages.

"All well and good, says the mainstream media, but he didn't create anything you can actually touch and feel, something that's sleek and glossy and does things, like that guy Steve Jobs created." (Point made in first paragraph, no C language, no sleek glossy things).

The mainstream media don't like my argument. They call out, "Yeah, but someone else would have invented it sooner or later and there's loads of different programming languages to choose from!"

"True, true," I say calmly, "But only in another dimension. The fact is Dennis Ritchie created C, which has gone on to be the blueprint - inspiration for every other programming language, including C+ and C++."

Ritchie created the 'C' whilst at Bell Labs Computing Sciences Research Center, where he worked after graduating from Harvard University with degrees in physics and applied mathematics. It was whilst at Bell that he also helped to create UNIX, the multi-user computer operating system.

There should be statues put up of the man. Messages should pop up on everyone's smartphones and tablets, telling them: This is Dennis Ritchie, he's the reason you're holding this small screen in your hand, click here to read more. There should be documentaries on TV, books, on the cover of Time. TV transmission should be interrupted during everybody's favourite talentless, reality, quiz game-shows, with the news that Dennis Ritchie has died. But there won't.