Quote

UNIX is basically a simple operating system, but you have to be a genius to understand the simplicity.

Dennis Ritchie

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Dennis Ritchie
Age: 70 †
Born: 1941
Born: September 9
Died: 2011
Died: October 12
Computer Scientist
Mathematician
Programmer
Writer
Dennis MacAlistair Ritchie
A. Ritči
dmr
Dennis Ritchie
Basically
Computer
Genius
System
Unix
Simple
Operating
Understand
Geek
Programming
Simplicity

More quotes by Dennis Ritchie

Image
It seems certain that much of the success of Unix follows from the readability, modifiability, and portability of its software.
Dennis Ritchie
Image
I've done a reasonable amount of travelling, which I enjoyed, but not for too long at a time. I'm a home-body and get fatigued by it fairly soon, but enjoy thinking back on experiences when I've returned and then often wish I'd arranged a longer stay in the somewhat exotic place.
Dennis Ritchie
Image
Some consider UNIX to be the second most important invention to come out of AT&T Bell Labs after the transistor.
Dennis Ritchie
Image
Unix has retarded OS research by 10 years and linux has retarded it by 20.
Dennis Ritchie
Image
Oh, I've seen copies [of Linux Journal] around the terminal room at The Labs.
Dennis Ritchie
Image
For infrastructure technology, C will be hard to displace.
Dennis Ritchie
Image
From an operating system research point of view, Unix is if not dead certainly old stuff, and it's clear that people should be looking beyond it.
Dennis Ritchie
Image
C is declining somewhat in usage compared to C++, and maybe Java, but perhaps even more compared to higher-level scripting languages. It's still fairly strong for the basic system-type things.
Dennis Ritchie
Image
A program designed for inputs from people is usually stressed beyond breaking point by computer-generated inputs.
Dennis Ritchie
Image
Obviously, the person who had most influence on my career was Ken Thompson.
Dennis Ritchie
Image
A language that doesn't have everything is actually easier to program in than some that do
Dennis Ritchie
Image
I listen to mostly-classical music, but mostly by radio - I'm not an audiophile.
Dennis Ritchie
Image
Sometimes when you fill a vacuum, it still sucks.
Dennis Ritchie
Image
Pretty much everything on the web uses those two things: C and UNIX.
Dennis Ritchie
Image
My work was fairly theoretical. It was in recursive function theory. And in particular, hierarchies of functions in terms of computational complexity. I got involved in real computers and programming mainly by being - well, I was interested even as I came to graduate school.
Dennis Ritchie
Image
C++ and Java, say, are presumably growing faster than plain C, but I bet C will still be around.
Dennis Ritchie
Image
I'm not a person who particularly had heros when growing up.
Dennis Ritchie
Image
One of the obvious things that went wrong with Multics as a commercial success was just that it was sort of over-engineered in a sense. There was just too much in it.
Dennis Ritchie
Image
UNIX is simple and coherent, but it takes a genius (or at any rate, a programmer) to understand and appreciate its simplicity.
Dennis Ritchie
Image
For books, I don't read much fiction, but like travel essays and good pop-science.
Dennis Ritchie