Tim Bray's Top Twenty Software People in the World

Posted by michael on Saturday December 11, 2004 @01:08AM from the li-nus-li-nus-li-nus-li-nus dept.

jg21 writes "Although this reader-compiled list of software development's giants omits pioneers like George Boole, John Louis von Neumann, and the 'Forgotten Father of the Computer' John Vincent Atanasoff - among others - it does a pretty good job of mapping the Code Masters, from Alan Turing who gave us the algorithm, to Klaus Knopper the one-man band behind Knoppix. They're mostly here - the inventors of C, C++, C#, Java, and Python; example. There are a couple of programmers who have snuck in more for their business acumen than their programming talent, like the former Powersoft/Sybase CEO Mitchell Kertzman but otherwise the 40 nominees seem pretty 'pure' and the overall idea is to narrow the list down to the Top Twenty Software People in the World - a phrase invented by Tim Bray, who blogged that Adam Bosworth would be among them. Be careful what you wish for when blogging - looks like Bray's about to find out who the community thinks the the 19 others are."

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Re:Jon Gay: The "Father of Flash" by Jules+Labrie · 2004-12-11 02:19 · Score: 0, Offtopic

Well, I didn't write it to make such out of place remarks. I just only wanted to point out that the content of this list is not accurate ; or rather could I say, this list is more a ranking of the best-know or most-loved hackers than of the best ones.
About Jon Gay, I agree with that post.