1237c8f4fd65
c_echo



Hello you 2 - 

CA>> The above URL points to a current interview with Kernighan
CA>> of K&R fame who tells the interviewer that he had nothing
CA>> to do with writing the C programming language, it was
CA>> mainly Ritchie's work. 

JC> This fact has been quite well-known for a long time. 

Not known to me. It's still K&R not R&K. 

CA>> I was a bit surprised by this revelation and a few others
CA>> that Kernighan mentions during this interview re: AWK and
CA>> others. Unfortunate for Ritchie that this information
CA>> wasn't presented sooner than it was but I guess better
CA>> late than never? 

JC> It was presented sooner, for those who paid any attention. 

I have no formal training as a librarian and don't read the
preface or any of the other junk on those pages other than the
copyright date and what edition (how many reprints etc.). 

JC> The preface of K&R1 says: "C was originally designed for
JC> and implemented on the UNIX operating system on the DEC
JC> PDP-11, by Dennis Ritchie." 

My copy (2nd Edition) is not available to me right now (loaned
it out) but I'll take your word for this. 

JC> In case you happen to care, Dennis Ritchie has also made it
JC> clear who contributed which parts to the book: "Although we
JC> worked closely together on this book, there was a clear
JC> division of labor: Kernighan wrote almost all the
JC> expository material, wile I was responsible for the
JC> appendix containing the reference manual and the chapter on
JC> interfacing with the UNIX system." (from his presentation
JC> on the development of C at the ACM's second conference on
JC> the History of Programming Languages). 

The way Kernighan described it he (Kernighan) is a 'terrible'
programmer and C was written by Ritchie. I don't really care
who wrote the appendix. 

JC> Another point many people find interesting is that dmr
JC> didn't design the I/O library either. That was the work of
JC> Mike Lesk (whose relative obscurity I believe is a cosmic
JC> punishment for having invented gets). 

Seems that there were many 'contributors' but one person got
the lion's share of the credit even though that was unfair to
the others. 

>
>        ,                          ,
>      o/      Charles.Angelich      \o       ,
>       __o/
>     / >          USA, MI           < \   __\__
 

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