I wish to pay tribute to Dennis M. Ritchie, another great technological visionary and inventor who died last week (October 12) along with Steve Jobs. Although Dr Ritchie contributed greatly to the computer technology, his death went unnoticed by many people around the world.

The world has lost another great mind equalling that of Mr Jobs. Without Dr Ritchie’s work we would not have modern operating systems and software application as we know them today. His pioneering work in developing the UNIX operating system and the C programming language laid the foundations for modern computer technology. His concepts and inventions power today’s internet search engines, smartphones, sophisticated applications, websites, information systems and most of today’s desktop operating systems.

Next time you switch on your computer and start using your favourite operating system, remember this man’s great work.

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