Good morning.

This morning's news reports the death of Dennis Ritchie:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15287391

at the age of 70 (I hadn't realised before that he was younger than me ... ).

That news article is not bad on the importance of UNIX and C. However, it could have tried a bit harder to describe the merits of UNIX as an operating system.

I like to think of using UNIX as though it were a system of mountain streams, some of them torrents, some trickles, but all joining up and crystal clear. You could get to any part of the system by climbing the rocks, if you are agile enough. The things you drop into them here and there get carried down and emerge in the desired order and relationships, provided you drop them in at the right times and places.

By contrast, systems which emerged 20-30 years after the early years of UNIX are more like the garishly decorated interior of a sluggish pleasure cruiser, with smudgy windows that you can't see out of while being served with cheap champagne and burgers, as the vessel lurches along a stagnant drab canal and lumps of effluent slap up against its bows, sometimes piling up and bringing it to a halt -- whereupon it sinks, leaving the passengers spashing and floundering in the mess.

I hope we shall be seeing proper tributes to the clarity, simplicity and completeness of the original UNIX concept and implementation, and to its well deserved longevity, which owe so much to Dennis Ritchie and the other founder members of the UNIX team.

Best wishes to all, Ted.

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