# Dennis Ritchie, computer pioneer, dead at 70 **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 13, 2011, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dennis-ritchie-computer-pioneer-dead-at-70/599510 "2011-10-13T08:22:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dennis-ritchie-computer-pioneer-dead-at-70/599510/1 "2011-10-13T08:22:51Z")
The guy who codesigned Unix and the C programming language dies at the age of 70. [Rob Pike confirms](http://www.osnews.com/story/25232/Dennis_Ritchie_Creator_of_UNIX_and_C_Dead_at_70). ---
**Author:** ![cardinal\_fang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal_fang/32/15316_2.png) [@cardinal\_fang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cardinal_fang)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dennis-ritchie-computer-pioneer-dead-at-70/599510/2 "2011-10-13T08:43:00Z")
printf ("☹ "); ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dennis-ritchie-computer-pioneer-dead-at-70/599510/3 "2011-10-13T12:04:32Z")
Goodbye, world. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dennis-ritchie-computer-pioneer-dead-at-70/599510/4 "2011-10-13T12:06:35Z")
Off to the celestial bit bucket… #UNDEFINE Ritchie ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dennis-ritchie-computer-pioneer-dead-at-70/599510/5 "2011-10-13T13:45:35Z")
Sure, well, he’s no Steve Jobs, though. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dennis-ritchie-computer-pioneer-dead-at-70/599510/6 "2011-10-13T15:17:05Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > Sure, well, he’s no Steve Jobs, though. Steve Jobs wouldn’t have been Steve Jobs without Ritchie paving the way for him. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dennis-ritchie-computer-pioneer-dead-at-70/599510/7 "2011-10-13T15:21:12Z")
return 0; } ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dennis-ritchie-computer-pioneer-dead-at-70/599510/8 "2011-10-13T18:05:25Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > Sure, well, he’s no Steve Jobs, though. Unix + C dwarfs anything that Jobs did about 10 times over 😉 ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dennis-ritchie-computer-pioneer-dead-at-70/599510/9 "2011-10-13T18:12:20Z")
\ ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dennis-ritchie-computer-pioneer-dead-at-70/599510/10 "2011-10-13T18:24:57Z")
–genius\_ctr; ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dennis-ritchie-computer-pioneer-dead-at-70/599510/11 "2011-10-13T19:42:23Z")
I’ll have to pull out my old K&R in memory. ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dennis-ritchie-computer-pioneer-dead-at-70/599510/12 "2011-10-13T20:52:35Z")
Pretty sure the Steve Jobs snark was a joke. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dennis-ritchie-computer-pioneer-dead-at-70/599510/13 "2011-10-14T01:22:40Z")
#include “rip.h” -D/a; ---
**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dennis-ritchie-computer-pioneer-dead-at-70/599510/14 "2011-10-14T13:30:30Z")
~\> cat ritchie \> /dev/null