C Programming Language: The Legacy of Dennis Ritchie
Dennis Ritchie (1941 – 2011)
In October the world lost two IT heroes; one famous the world over while the other a name only heard in the geek circles.
Without a doubt, everyone mourned the loss of Apple’s co-founder Steve Jobs. He was probably the most famous man in the information technology and communication industry.
His less known counterpart was Dennis Ritchie; the man who invented the C programming language and co-invented the UNIX operating system.
The C programming language shaped technology as we know it. It was the first portable programming language and could be used on several different platforms.
It was originally designed to implement system software but programmers saw the potential and started using it to write applications. It also influenced a number of programming languages, most notably C++.
Ritchie’s contribution to computer sciences saw him receive a number of awards. In 1983 he won the Turing Award for the development of ‘generic operating systems theory’ and the implementation of the UNIX OS.
In 1990 he received IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal and seven years later he was made a Fellow of the Computer History Museum.
In 1999 he received the National Medal of Technology of 1998 from them US President Bill Clinton and earlier this year the Japan Prize for Information and Communication.
The introduction of the C language changed the scope of information and communication technology in more ways than many can imagine.
It became the catalyst for the development of system software, operating systems and applications that could be used on different hardware architectures – a legacy we enjoy today.
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