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Famous Nerds #21 (cont)

Rob Pike

  
  • Bell Labs scientist (70's .. 90's)
  • Developer/co-developer of:
    • Blit graphics terminal
    • Early Unix window systems
    • Sam: multi-file text editor
    • Acme: text editor for programmers
    • UTF-8: character encoding
    • Plan 9 distributed operating system
  • Currently works for Google
  • Email: r@google.com
Quotes from Rob Pike:
  • "Unix never says `please.'"
  • "Object-oriented design is the roman numerals of computing."
  • "We really are using a 1970s era operating system well past its sell-by date. We get a lot done, and we have fun, but let's face it, the fundamental design of Unix is older than many of the readers of Slashdot, while lots of different, great ideas about computing and networks have been developed in the last 30 years. Using Unix is the computing equivalent of listening only to music by David Cassidy."