When I read commentary about suggestions for where C should go, I often think back and give thanks that it wasn't developed under the advice of a worldwide crowd.

First news of his death came from his former colleague Rob Pike. His name was not a household name at all but.

Ritchie was the head of Lucent Technologies System Software Research Department when he retired in 2007. Ritchie and Thompson received the Turing Award from the ACM in 1983 the Hamming Medal from the IEEE in 1990 and the National Medal of Technology from President Clinton in 1999. Dennis MacAlistair Ritchie (born September 9 1941; found dead October 12 2011) was an American computer scientist who "helped shape the digital era.