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Comment by rkalla | Hacker News Reader

I wonder how many people here got to know Ritchie through "The C Programming Language", I am sure half of us have it on our shelves.

It is amazing how many lives a single person can touch directly and indirectly.

I hope Ritchie passed away knowing the unforgettable contribution he made to the world as we all move forward on a platform he set down for us more than 30 years ago.

What an awesome legacy to leave behind. Thank you Dennis.

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Actually when I read the post just now, I went to the shelf and picked up my copy of it and just placed it on my desk, he had a major impact on my life.

I "feel" more of a loss about Dennis' passing than Steve's.

I know what you mean, there is all that nostalgia of going through that book so many years ago and learning the programming constructs that would benefit all of us professionally for years to come.

Indeed. I was saddened by the dead of Steve Jobs. And although I comprehend his contribution to humanity, I was never "personally" touched by his products (e.g. I have never owned an Apple product).

Dennis Ritchie is a different thing. As other people have pointed, in my opinion there is no current technology that was not "touched" by the contributions that R&K did. Being it Unix or C, these are two of the most important software creations in history.

I'm old enough that K&R was the bible when I started with Borland's Turbo C 1.0. Another sad day for computer science.

I started with Turbo C++ 4.0 in 1994 as a geeky 8th grader. You're evoking some powerful memories. A tremendously sad day.

alnayyir, you've been hellbanned. In case you didn't know.

Although this makes his comments only viewable by comment-necrophiliacs like us and are unchallengeable by reply. It's like alnayyir is a zombie gadfly. Creepy.

That must've been one seriously downvoted comment to get someone with over 2000 karma to a -2 average.

AFAIR, average is only counted on your last 50 comments.

It was a series of comments I believe, in which he began taunting the people downvoting him to downvote him more.

hellbanned?

Banned users are not informed of the ban. New comments are quietly autokilled. This particular user, iirc, was a frequent poster who was notable for their additions. Which I'm guessing is why they've been told.

Viewing comments with showdead on is good but it makes viewing the new page difficult when half the page is auto-banned links.

Meaning his comments don't show up to anyone except for himself. A way to ban someone without him noticing it, so he doesn't create a new account.

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