7 ms·

Jim Warren has died

166 points by drallison 5y ago

ScottAdams 5y ago
He will be missed. I still remember fondly he would fly around the floor of the West Coast Computer Faire on rollerskates, going everywhere to make sure it was running smoothly.
- rgacote 5y ago
  And given how tall Jim was, you could see his face floating over the Faire floor from across the entire hall.
gumby 5y ago
He was responsible for getting the entire California legal code online, which I believe was a first for the USA.
ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago
> One fewer curmudgeon. We're going to have to work extra hard to keep the curmudgeon level up. I’m doing my part for The Cause…
- kabdib 5y ago
  "Look," I once said to a manager of mine, "I've been using this programming language longer than you've been alive..." Card-carrying member here. :-)
T3RMINATED 5y ago
[dead]
StuntPope 5y ago
I loved Dr Dobbs Journal. Used to buy it every month when I was in college and barely understood any of it.
- Findecanor 5y ago
  I used to read it in the city library, and once I even borrowed a whole year's journals to binge-read. I learned a lot of coding techniques from articles in it back in the day.
- kabdib 5y ago
  I eagerly awaited every issue. It taught me a lot, in an era where finding information about computers was pretty difficult. I was in junior high school, and none of the books in the school or public libraries covered any of this fancy new "microcomputer" stuff. Inspired by DDJ, I remember writing my own versions of PILOT and a "Tiny BASIC" with floating point, in Z-80 assembly, a couple years before I got my first computer. Probably still have those notebooks somewhere, I'm sure that code is terrible :-) I'm grateful to DDJ for its liveliness, breadth of subject matter (okay, "randomness"), and simple enthusiasm for teaching people about personal computing.
Victorakpan 5y ago
What a tragic, may his soul rest in peace
1cvmask 5y ago
More on Jim here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Warren_(computer_specialist) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Warren_(computer_specialis...
Animats 5y ago
I knew him back when the EFF was being founded. A great loss.
westcoast330 5y ago
When I was growing up, I saw Triumph of the Nerds by Bob Cringely on PBS. About midway through as I recall there's Jim Warren sitting in a hot tub with a killer view talking about the West Coast Computer Faire and early computing. I had only recently started coding in QBASIC then Visual Basic. Seeing that documentary helped cement my interest in programming and computers in general. Thanks Jim! Edit: Found the first clip. Wish I had a chance to meet him, sounded like a character: https://youtu.be/toSRmKKiosQ?t=1790 https://youtu.be/toSRmKKiosQ?t=1790

166 points by drallison 5y ago

He will be missed. I still remember fondly he would fly around the floor of the West Coast Computer Faire on rollerskates, going everywhere to make sure it was running smoothly.

rgacote 5y ago
And given how tall Jim was, you could see his face floating over the Faire floor from across the entire hall.

gumby 5y ago

He was responsible for getting the entire California legal code online, which I believe was a first for the USA.

ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago

> One fewer curmudgeon. We're going to have to work extra hard to keep the curmudgeon level up. I’m doing my part for The Cause…

kabdib 5y ago
"Look," I once said to a manager of mine, "I've been using this programming language longer than you've been alive..." Card-carrying member here. :-)

T3RMINATED 5y ago

[dead]

StuntPope 5y ago

I loved Dr Dobbs Journal. Used to buy it every month when I was in college and barely understood any of it.

Findecanor 5y ago
I used to read it in the city library, and once I even borrowed a whole year's journals to binge-read. I learned a lot of coding techniques from articles in it back in the day.
kabdib 5y ago
I eagerly awaited every issue. It taught me a lot, in an era where finding information about computers was pretty difficult. I was in junior high school, and none of the books in the school or public libraries covered any of this fancy new "microcomputer" stuff. Inspired by DDJ, I remember writing my own versions of PILOT and a "Tiny BASIC" with floating point, in Z-80 assembly, a couple years before I got my first computer. Probably still have those notebooks somewhere, I'm sure that code is terrible :-) I'm grateful to DDJ for its liveliness, breadth of subject matter (okay, "randomness"), and simple enthusiasm for teaching people about personal computing.

Victorakpan 5y ago

What a tragic, may his soul rest in peace

1cvmask 5y ago

More on Jim here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Warren_(computer_specialist) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Warren_(computer_specialis...

Animats 5y ago

I knew him back when the EFF was being founded. A great loss.

westcoast330 5y ago

When I was growing up, I saw Triumph of the Nerds by Bob Cringely on PBS. About midway through as I recall there's Jim Warren sitting in a hot tub with a killer view talking about the West Coast Computer Faire and early computing. I had only recently started coding in QBASIC then Visual Basic. Seeing that documentary helped cement my interest in programming and computers in general. Thanks Jim! Edit: Found the first clip. Wish I had a chance to meet him, sounded like a character: https://youtu.be/toSRmKKiosQ?t=1790 https://youtu.be/toSRmKKiosQ?t=1790