Fireside Chat: Founders of Modern Computing
Ken Thompson is the inventor of Unix (the predecessor to Linux), B (the predecessor to C), ed (the predecessor to vi/vim), grep, and modern regular expressions. Not to be outdone by himself, he also is a co-creator of both C and Golang. If you look at /usr/bin on a vanilla server or Macbook, there’s a good chance he was involved in most of what you’re seeing. A Presidential medal was awarded for his life’s work.
Brian Kernighan co-created awk and co-authored the book “The C Programming Language”, practically defining modern technical writing. He later co-authored the book “The Go Programming Language” and is credited with writing the first “Hello, World” program, establishing this as a way to introduce programming languages. He refuses to accept any credit for his early involvement in the C programming language, deferring to his late colleague Dennis Ritchie.
These guys are legends and whichever digital device you’re using to read this wouldn’t exist without both of them. This fireside chat between the pair is a must-see. They talk about inventing programming languages and operating systems like an evening meal they fondly remember cooking.
Watch: Brian Kernighan & Ken Thompson Fireside Chat :: 1h4m
If you’re new to the topic, or looking for a refresher on the context of these inventions, Computerphile’s Professor Brailsford gives an excellent outline of this period of computing: