Computer Scientist, Dennis Ritchie died this week. There was nary a mention of it anywhere in the major media, except perhaps below the fold on A6. But he was a hero to me for many reasons—his influence on my musicianship not being the least. I grieve. And I hope in vain to convince you, gentle reader, who would rather read about the guy in the black turtleneck, that Dennis was one of the more important guys of the twentieth century and worthy of becoming part of your dinner conversation.

The Requisite Preliminary Adulation

A hundred years from now, when devices with a certain fruity logo are as forgotten as ‘Pullman Cars’ are forgotten today, the fruits of Dennis‘ work will still be running the world; as it does now.

I originally went to school to study physics, simply because I got a scholarship to study physics. Back then, if you did physics, you learned to program computers in order to do the work. And for science geeks, ‘programming a computer’ meant writing […]