In Memory of Dennis MacAlistair Ritchie (1941-2011)
Dennis MacAlistair Ritchie passed away on October 12, 2011, at the age of 70. He was found dead at his home in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, where he lived alone. Ritchie had been in frail health for several years prior to his death, following treatment for prostate cancer and heart disease. His passing came just a week after the death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, which overshadowed the news of Ritchie's death in the media. I shared the below eulogy during our C/C++ Meetup in Dallas, Texas, yesterday evening! ------------------------------>>> We gather today to honor a true pioneer, a quiet revolutionary whose work fundamentally shaped the digital world we inhabit. Dennis Ritchie - dmr, as he was known to many - was not just a programmer or a computer scientist; he was an architect of the modern technological age, a creator whose vision continues to ripple through every keystroke, every compilation, every system call we make today. When I first held...