Linux Journal Interview With Brian Kernighan

pndiku writes "Linux Journal has an interesting interview with Brian Kernighan where he talks about AWK, AMPL and how he had nothing to do with the creation of C."

Comments

Woah

[Sir Haxalot]

'...and how he had nothing to do with the creation of C'
That's something to be proud of!

Re:Woah

[jmt9581]

I'd be more proud of having nothing to do with C++. :)

Hey, we have something in common!

[Anonymous Coward]

I had nothing to do with the creation of C either!

If I were Brian...

[stevens]

...and someone asked me about the wisdom of gets(), I'd also be pointing at Dennis Ritchie and yelling, "It was him! Burrrn him!"

SCO sueing Brian Kernighan

[Anonymous Coward]

Isn't SCO already suing Brian, both for being involved in a Linux OS, and because "C" happens to be found in the middle of SCO's trademark name?

Re:It's official

[iabervon]

Well, he does claim responsibility for getting a book written. Without him, we'd still have C, but nobody would know how to use it.

Re:It's official

[no reason to be here]

wrote with Dennis Ritchie(which is the main inventor of C).

<nazi class="grammar">
First off, which is in the wrong case. which is the objective case. It should be the nominative form, that.
Second, that/which is the wrong word. Dennis Ritchis is a person, and therefore should be substituted by the pronoun who (not whom, as that would cause that same nominative/objective problem again).
</nazi>

Re:expressive

[garcia]

vuglar language.

Flash video of Monty Python's famous skit ;)

Re:expressive

[ryants]

what you think the most expressive language is (efficiency aside)?

Chinese. In no other language can one syllable mean anything from "chicken" to "the interlocking fates of all beings in the celestial orb".

And let's not forget crisitunity.

Re:It's official

[Anonymous Coward]

but nobody would know how to use it.

Looking at the quality of code from some of the students I study with, perhaps we haven't come that far.

Simplicity

[devphil]

One of my favorite Kernighan quotes of all time:

Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place. Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are, by definition, not smart enough to debug it.

Re:He teaches VB!

[$rtbl_this]

I'm a C nut...

Just be glad you're not dyslexic as well. :)

Atleast Windows is safe.

[Niadh]

... since C is now owned by SCO, so is everything written in said language

That explains why SCO isn't going after Microsoft.
Windows being written in VB and all.

overthrow the style oppressor

[smarthippy]

nothing to do with the creation of C? then why am i supposed to be using his coding style?! hrmph. i'll put my {}'s where i damn well please, now that the ugly truth has come to light.

main() {
for(;;) {
printf("suck it!"); } }

Holy shit, batman, where's your flame-proof suit??

[Rinikusu]

Let's see:
1) He mentions he writes interfaces for.. Visual Basic
2) He mentions he writes code in Java
3) He mentions Microsoft in a positive light
4) He admits to owning a Mac

Fuck, man, the only thing he didn't do is say "vi" or "emacs".

Does this mean that, in reality, all of the contention regarding languages, operating systems, and idealogies is completely artificial and that we should really just use what we like instead of jumping on a particular bandwagon and denying the legitimacy of anything else?

Man, I think I want to go back to bed.

Re:he's dead wrong about MS

[CdnYoda]

Hmmm...sounds like someone from the Dark Side. Of course MS prices are outrageous! They don't even include the source! :-)

Re:Holy shit, batman, where's your flame-proof sui

[machine of god]

You read the article didn't you. DIDN'T YOU. Never do that again.

(It led you to assume that the rest of slashdot will.)

Re:He teaches VB!

[__past__]

It seems he teaches Visual Basic in his programming course at Princeton. I'm a C nut so that came as a shock to me.

Well, he certainly is in good company.