RIP Dennis Ritchie

This probably isn't a face you're familiar with.

Unlike Steve Jobs, Dennis Ritchie wasn't a public figure. He was an engineer, and the programmer, and the inventor of, among other things, the C programming language, and the UNIX operating system.

For most of you reading this blog, those two things probably don't mean much. Today, we take things like computers, and the Internet, and the voice translation software I'm using to write this blog post, for granted. Today, these things are a part of our everyday lives. 40 years ago, however, it was a much different story. 40 years predates the Internet by 20 years, give or take, and the personal computer by another 10 on top of that.

40 years ago, Dennis Ritchie was inventing the things that would make much of what we have today possible.

Just to give you a little perspective, the C programming language and the UNIX operating system, while still in existence today, are more commonly known as the forerunners of much of the technology that runs today's Internet. The programming language known as Java is the direct descendent of C and today Java exists in everything from Internet Web servers to the Android phone you might hold in your hand. UNIX is just as prevalent. UNIX still runs a significant percentage of the Internet and it is the forerunner of commonplace technologies such as Mac OS X, which just might be displaying the blog post you're reading right now.

So grab yourself a beer, or a soda, or the libation of your choice, and raise a toast to Dennis Ritchie because without him this world would be a much different place.

RIP

Years ago I was having a conversation with my dad. We were sitting on his crappy couch in the little apartment he'd rented after separating from my mom. I don't remember exactly why I was there because at the time I was married, graduated, and no longer living back at home. I was probably just there to visit, and it probably wasn't too long after him setting up in the apartment.

We talked about a lot of things that day, most of which I no longer remember, but there was one thing he asked me that I'll never forget. He asked me why I didn't have any kids yet. I wasn't really prepared for the question, but I answered truthfully. I said I didn't know and that it just hadn't been a priority. He asked me, “Don't you want something to pass on in this world? Some kind of legacy that will last after you're gone?” I told him I didn't know if I'd ever have kids, but that I hoped that someday my legacy would live on in a book that people could read long after my time on this world was done.

Strange that I finished the beta draft of my first novel a day before Steve Jobs died.

I don't expect to be famous. All I want is to make a nice little ripple in this pond we live in. All I want is for some geeky picked on kid, or some tired and aspiring college student, or somebody's mom or dad to pick up my book and find a little escape from the crappy world that we live in.

If that was my legacy, I’d put that on my tombstone and die a happy man.

I can't imagine changing the world.

Rest in peace, Steve Jobs.

RIP John Barry

John Barry passed away today. I can't say that I was a huge fan, but I was a fan. Like many of us, his music has touched my life more than once and if you take a moment to browse through the list of movie soundtracks he's composed I think you'll be able to say the same.

How is this relevant to The Scribblerati blog? Only marginally, to be honest. I always write to music. Typically, that's something techno-ish; mostly house, with a little trance and other whatnot thrown in. Every once in a while though I'll turn to some classical and a soundtrack that I always come back to is:

I love the Dances With Wolves soundtrack. It's sweeping, haunting, and beautiful all at the same time. In many ways, the imagery and emotions it evokes is almost perfect for writing. I don't know about you, but there's something about truly excellent music that always stimulates my creativity.

And there's one other thing about Dances with Wolves that I'll never forget. That's the movie the lovely @mplstravelkitty and I saw on our first date.

Go ahead and follow the links and let us know how John Barry affected your life.