Sonnet for Dennis Ritchie

by tomheonon 11/11/2011, 1:25 PMwith 17 comments

by diiqon 11/11/2011, 3:27 PM

I clicked the link with my spine pre-cringed, ready for cheesy hacker poetry. Instead I found a lovingly crafted epitaph in stylish, uninterrupted verse. I immediately looked to see the other poetry. I was shocked that there were only two others posted --- I refuse to believe that someone who wrote this and The Little Bank of San Pietro dei Fiumi (also beautiful) has only written three poems. Post more, Mister Jorgensen!

by xianshouon 11/11/2011, 5:14 PM

I was prepared to laugh, but that's actually...a little touching. Now who said hackers have no creative spirit!

by michaeltyon 11/11/2011, 3:20 PM

"Exists, what can it be but information?

Your ghost performs the world’s computation."

Beautiful!

by p4bl0on 11/11/2011, 3:40 PM

TIL that an english sonnet is not at all the same thing as a french one (I was confused at first, because in french a sonnet is a very strict form of poetry, which is not respected at all here). So thanks for that, and beautiful text, by the way :-).

by jszmajdaon 11/11/2011, 2:32 PM

Very touching! Thanks for sharing.

by brudgerson 11/11/2011, 2:41 PM

Spoken like a hacker, not a hack.

by dansoon 11/11/2011, 2:36 PM

I wasn't sure if "Steve Jacks" was an admirer or some clueless middle manager at a newspaper meeting not wanting to talk about "C" because everyone is running "PCs" these days.

But here's his original letter: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-10-18/news/chi-11101...