"Dennis Ritchie invented C and Unix, why isn't he more remembered than Steve Jobs?"

Raydere

Once again I'm seeing memes go around complaining about how Jobs is far more remembered than Ritchie, despite Ritchie having much more fundamental achievements to his name.

Except I'm not surprised. Jobs was behind what is considered today Google's competitor in the mobile phone field and Microsoft's competitor in the PC field. You don't need a master's in Computer Engineering to go to your local store, purchase an iPhone or MacBook, and begin using it on a daily basis. Ritchie, on the other hand, is known for things that the average tech user will most likely never need to know in their lifetime--to those reading this who do not pursue an programming-related career or hobby, when was the last time you wrote a line of C? Plus, while Jobs's achievements span a long period of time, up to his death, Ritchie's accomplishments were mostly back in the 60's and 70's, so of course younger folks aren't going to hear his name and instantly go "oh, that's the guy who invented C!"

glennmagusharvey

Why don't we hear more about the folks who invented the wheel?

Bee

...I knew who Dennis Ritchie is.

Nyktos

tbh serves him right for that function pointer syntax