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From: clemc@ccc.com (Clem Cole)
Subject: [TUHS] Happy birthday, Dennis Ritchie!
Date: Sun, 17 Sep 2017 20:51:34 -0400	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <CAC20D2Oi1F10XihB=xeJTYkiaLfHFajJKHRB2HmZtw52WB+-7g@mail.gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20170918001206.GD3272@mcvoy.com>

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On Sun, Sep 17, 2017 at 8:12 PM, Larry McVoy <lm at mcvoy.com> wrote:

>
> OK, let's hit the reset button on this one.

​I agree,   Warren said something similar...​




> I'm happy that the GNU
> ​ ​
> project exists, I benefit from it every day.

​ditto.​




> I am explicitly stating
> ​ ​
> that I appreciate all of the work that people have done as volunteers,
> I'm one of them.

​And I'll add, we as a community owe a huge thank you to all of them,
particularly many smaller less known folks that have helped out over the
years.  I wish I could thank them all specifically.

I'll give RMS, Len and original GNU team credit for one really important
thing that happened early on.   It really was the getting a C compiler out
that there that worked (sort of) for so many systems.  This was the key
enabler more than anything else.  The C compiler that anyone could get,
that was freely available, was the watershed moment for all us.  [
​
​And Larry's right, the
 fact the Tiemann mopped up an
​d​
really move
​d​
it from being a toy to being something that was pretty creditable, it what
made the project actually have a
​ long term​
life
​]​
.​
​   If we had not had the compiler, almost all other project would not have
happened.


By getting a compiler that covered the primary architectures being used and
was quickly moved to so many OS's and generated 'good enough' code for so
many folks - we have the options we have today.

The only other compiler at the time, that could have done the same things
was Andy's Amsterdam Compiler Kit (which when it came out, was considered a
"better" compiler)​, but it had a small pay wall.  And 'free' as in 'beer'
was the important difference when it all started.

Like many of other Christiansen style disruptions.... 'worse' technology
was valuable and got better.   And the GNU C disrupted the order in the
software industry.
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  reply	other threads:[~2017-09-18  0:51 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 204+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2017-09-08 20:54 Dave Horsfall
2017-09-08 21:04 ` Noel Chiappa
2017-09-08 21:09   ` Michael Kjörling
2017-09-09  1:16     ` Wesley Parish
2017-09-09  1:30       ` [TUHS] File-as-record (was: Happy birthday, Dennis Ritchie!) Greg 'groggy' Lehey
2017-09-09  1:43         ` Warner Losh
2017-09-09  1:50         ` Wesley Parish
2017-09-09 13:59           ` [TUHS] File-as-record Arthur Krewat
2017-09-11 17:26         ` [TUHS] File-as-record (was: Happy birthday, Dennis Ritchie!) Paul Winalski
2017-09-09  4:34       ` [TUHS] Happy birthday, Dennis Ritchie! Steve Johnson
2017-09-09 13:04         ` William Cheswick
2017-09-09 17:26           ` Steve Nickolas
2017-09-09 17:49           ` Arthur Krewat
2017-09-09 19:40             ` Steve Nickolas
2017-09-09 20:33           ` Lawrence Stewart
2017-09-09 21:56             ` Steve Johnson
2017-09-10  1:27               ` Dave Horsfall
2017-09-11 16:20             ` Paul Winalski
2017-09-09 15:55         ` Clem Cole
2017-09-08 22:28   ` Steve Nickolas
2017-09-09 11:04     ` Michael Kjörling
2017-09-09 11:19       ` Steve Nickolas
2017-09-08 21:05 ` Arthur Krewat
2017-09-08 21:14 ` William Pechter
2017-09-08 22:13   ` Angus Robinson
2017-09-08 23:11     ` William Pechter
2017-09-09  5:13       ` Dave Horsfall
2017-09-09 15:41         ` Larry McVoy
2017-09-09  4:20   ` Dave Horsfall
2017-09-11 16:30   ` Paul Winalski
2017-09-11 16:49     ` [TUHS] Happy birthday, Dennis Ritchie! [ really sun vs dec/apollo ] Jon Steinhart
2017-09-11 17:37       ` Paul Winalski
2017-09-11 23:09       ` Larry McVoy
2017-09-12  7:38         ` arnold
2017-09-12 14:12           ` Ronald Natalie
2017-09-12 14:51             ` Toby Thain
2017-09-12 15:33             ` arnold
2017-09-12 15:35           ` [TUHS] Happy birthday, Dennis Ritchie! [ really sun vs dec/apollo --> X and NeWS ] Jon Steinhart
2017-09-12 16:57             ` Larry McVoy
2017-09-12 17:04             ` Arthur Krewat
2017-09-12 17:07               ` Larry McVoy
2017-09-12 22:11               ` [TUHS] X and NeWS history (long) Jon Steinhart
2017-09-12 22:58                 ` Larry McVoy
2017-09-12 23:22                   ` Jon Steinhart
2017-09-12 23:44                     ` Chris Torek
2017-09-12 23:41                 ` Adam Sampson
2017-09-13  0:14                   ` Jon Steinhart
2017-09-13 16:38                     ` [TUHS] old X versions (was:X and NeWS history) Christian Groessler
2017-09-13 19:10                       ` Kurt H Maier
2017-09-13 19:13                         ` Henry Bent
2017-09-19  0:44                       ` Random832
2017-09-19 10:30                         ` Nigel Williams
2017-09-19 14:05                           ` Jon Steinhart
2017-09-19 15:16                             ` Gregg Levine
2017-09-19 15:39                               ` [TUHS] old X versions Chet Ramey
2017-09-19 18:23                                 ` Nemo
2017-09-19 18:32                                   ` Clem Cole
2017-09-19 18:32                                   ` Chet Ramey
2017-09-19 18:34                                     ` Jon Steinhart
2017-09-19 18:43                                     ` Chet Ramey
2017-09-19 19:19                                       ` Stephen Kitt
2017-09-19 15:40                               ` [TUHS] old X versions (was:X and NeWS history) Clem Cole
2017-09-19 17:01                               ` Steve Nickolas
2017-09-19 17:15                                 ` Gregg Levine
2017-09-19 18:56                                   ` Derek Fawcus
2017-09-19 19:22                                     ` [TUHS] old X versions Arthur Krewat
2017-09-19 20:15                                     ` [TUHS] old X versions (was:X and NeWS history) Gregg Levine
2017-09-19 18:30                                 ` Nemo
2017-09-19 23:40                               ` Wesley Parish
2017-09-19 23:46                                 ` [TUHS] old X versions Grant Taylor
2017-09-20  0:06                                   ` Arthur Krewat
2017-09-13  0:29                 ` [TUHS] X and NeWS history (long) Bakul Shah
2017-09-13  0:52                   ` ron minnich
2017-09-13  0:54                     ` Warner Losh
2017-09-13  0:56                       ` ron minnich
2017-09-13  0:57                         ` Warner Losh
2017-09-13  2:06                         ` Kurt H Maier
2017-09-13  3:34                           ` ron minnich
2017-09-13  3:55                             ` Jon Steinhart
2017-09-13 15:16                               ` Arthur Krewat
2017-09-13 15:42                                 ` [TUHS] X and NeWS history (long) [ really systemd, student access to real code ] Jon Steinhart
2017-09-13  1:42                     ` [TUHS] X and NeWS history (long) Arthur Krewat
2017-09-13  2:27                       ` Grant Taylor
2017-09-13 16:14                     ` Lawrence Stewart
2017-09-13  0:56                   ` Jon Steinhart
2017-09-13  1:34                     ` Bakul Shah
2017-09-13  2:43                     ` Grant Taylor
2017-09-13  3:01                       ` Jon Steinhart
2017-09-13  3:25                         ` Grant Taylor
2017-09-13  3:27                           ` Jon Steinhart
2017-09-13 15:09                 ` Tony Finch
2017-09-13 15:19                   ` Jon Steinhart
2017-09-12 23:33               ` [TUHS] Happy birthday, Dennis Ritchie! [ really sun vs dec/apollo --> X and NeWS ] Dave Horsfall
2017-09-12 20:15             ` Steve Johnson
2017-09-13  2:23               ` Larry McVoy
2017-09-14  0:53                 ` Nemo
2017-09-14  1:18                   ` Henry Bent
2017-09-14  3:15                   ` Larry McVoy
2017-09-14  9:35                   ` Rico Pajarola
2017-09-14 11:11                     ` arnold
2017-09-14 12:13                       ` Rico Pajarola
2017-09-14 12:50                         ` Chet Ramey
2017-09-14 13:27                           ` Rico Pajarola
2017-09-14 14:30                             ` Chet Ramey
2017-09-14 13:21                       ` Steffen Nurpmeso
2017-09-14 19:44                         ` arnold
2017-09-14 20:22                           ` [TUHS] Tools and building: libtool, autoconf, etc. [ trying to have a relevant subject line ] Jon Steinhart
2017-09-14 20:32                             ` Ron Natalie
2017-09-14 21:00                               ` Chris Torek
2017-09-14 21:03                                 ` Ron Natalie
2017-09-14 22:26                                   ` Grant Taylor
2017-09-16  3:34                                 ` Larry McVoy
2017-09-16  4:16                                   ` Warner Losh
2017-09-16  5:08                                   ` Dave Horsfall
2017-09-16  3:33                               ` Larry McVoy
2017-09-14 20:41                             ` Bakul Shah
2017-09-14 21:00                               ` Noel Hunt
2017-09-15 17:42                           ` [TUHS] Happy birthday, Dennis Ritchie! [ really sun vs dec/apollo --> X and NeWS ] Steffen Nurpmeso
2017-09-14 20:31                         ` Ian Zimmerman
2017-09-15  3:16                   ` Dave Horsfall
2017-09-15  3:33                     ` Warner Losh
2017-09-15  8:32                       ` Ron Natalie
2017-09-15 12:42                     ` Arthur Krewat
2017-09-15 18:20                     ` Steffen Nurpmeso
2017-09-15 18:37                       ` Paul Winalski
2017-09-13  7:30               ` arnold
2017-09-13 13:35                 ` Larry McVoy
2017-09-13 23:55                   ` Dave Horsfall
2017-09-14  0:18                     ` Henry Bent
2017-09-14  2:10                       ` Larry McVoy
2017-09-14 19:37                       ` Steve Johnson
2017-09-14 19:54                         ` Steve Nickolas
2017-09-14 20:50                           ` Ian Zimmerman
2017-09-14 21:00                             ` Ron Natalie
2017-09-14 20:11                         ` Ron Natalie
2017-09-14 20:26                           ` Jon Steinhart
2017-09-19  0:52                         ` Random832
2017-09-19  2:50                           ` Larry McVoy
2017-09-19  2:56                             ` Gregg Levine
2017-09-19  3:37                               ` Larry McVoy
2017-09-19  6:52                                 ` Lars Brinkhoff
2017-09-19  7:22                             ` Ian Zimmerman
2017-09-19 13:22                               ` Larry McVoy
2017-09-19 13:53                             ` Steffen Nurpmeso
2017-09-19 13:56                               ` Larry McVoy
2017-09-19 17:56                                 ` Random832
2017-09-19 18:31                                   ` Steffen Nurpmeso
2017-09-19 18:34                                     ` Larry McVoy
2017-09-19 19:31                                   ` Lawrence Stewart
2017-09-20  3:13                                   ` Larry McVoy
2017-09-23 22:24                                     ` Ralph Corderoy
2017-09-19 14:32                             ` Clem Cole
2017-09-19 14:42                               ` Larry McVoy
2017-09-19 15:12                                 ` Clem Cole
2017-09-19 18:03                                 ` Random832
2017-09-10  9:44 ` [TUHS] Happy birthday, Dennis Ritchie! arnold
2017-09-13 23:22   ` Dave Horsfall
2017-09-14 16:11     ` Ian Zimmerman
2017-09-14 16:15       ` Steve Nickolas
2017-09-14 19:30         ` Theodore Ts'o
2017-09-14 19:52           ` Steve Nickolas
2017-09-14 22:03             ` Christian Groessler
2017-09-14 22:39               ` Erik Berls
2017-09-14 22:52                 ` ron minnich
2017-09-14 23:04                   ` Warner Losh
2017-09-14 23:14                     ` Bakul Shah
2017-09-15 19:01                     ` Chris Torek
2017-09-15 19:50                       ` Lyndon Nerenberg
2017-09-15 19:56                         ` ron minnich
2017-09-15 20:34                         ` Chris Torek
2017-09-14 23:06                   ` Bakul Shah
2017-09-15  0:47                     ` ron minnich
2017-09-14 19:39         ` Kurt H Maier
2017-09-14 20:09           ` [TUHS] Happy birthday, Dennis Ritchie! [ really Pottering vs UNIX ] Jon Steinhart
2017-09-14 21:35           ` [TUHS] Happy birthday, Dennis Ritchie! Theodore Ts'o
2017-09-15  1:40             ` Ron Natalie
2017-09-15 14:04               ` Larry McVoy
2017-09-16  3:40             ` Larry McVoy
2017-09-16  7:45               ` Steve Nickolas
2017-09-16 12:59               ` Ron Natalie
2017-09-16 18:19                 ` Andy Kosela
2017-09-17 18:37                 ` Chet Ramey
2017-09-18 15:11                   ` Steve Johnson
2017-09-16 19:20               ` arnold
2017-09-17  1:43                 ` Larry McVoy
2017-09-17  1:55                   ` Jon Steinhart
2017-09-17  2:14                     ` Warner Losh
2017-09-17  2:18                       ` Larry McVoy
2017-09-17 14:27                         ` Warner Losh
2017-09-17  5:13                     ` Ian Zimmerman
2017-09-17  5:19                   ` arnold
2017-09-17 18:49                     ` Chet Ramey
2017-09-17 18:57                       ` Kurt H Maier
2017-09-17 19:08                         ` Warner Losh
2017-09-17 19:33                           ` Bakul Shah
2017-09-17 19:22                         ` Chet Ramey
2017-09-17 18:43                   ` Chet Ramey
2017-09-18  0:12                     ` Larry McVoy
2017-09-18  0:51                       ` Clem Cole [this message]
2017-09-17 18:25               ` Chet Ramey
2017-09-17 18:31 Norman Wilson
2017-09-21 10:11 Doug McIlroy
2017-09-21 17:23 ` Mutiny 
2017-09-21 20:15   ` Nemo

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