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The original EMACS was written by Richard Stallman and Guy L. Steele, Jr. when they were 23 and 22 respectively. Fortran was proposed by John Backus when he w
by Crito 12y ago
The original EMACS was written by Richard Stallman and Guy L. Steele, Jr. when they were 23 and 22 respectively. Fortran was proposed by John Backus when he was 29. The first lisp implementation was created by Steve Russell before he was 30.
Those are just three of four things that I checked (John McCarthy was in his early 30s). The idea that once you're over 30 you can no longer hack it is absurd, but that doesn't mean that the opposite has any truth to it.
Edit: Ada Lovelace wrote the first computer programs when she was 27-28.
- adamnemecek 12y agoSo when EMACS came out in '76, it was considered something groundbreaking?
- Crito 12y agoWhen it came out? Not particularly. Linux wasn't exactly groundbreaking when it went public either though. Typically "big deals" take a few years to get rolling. Much of what was invented by people in their 20s throughout history did not make it to the public until years, or even decades, later. Throwing out some more: Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, and Johannes Kepler.
- lispm 12y agoThat's nothing. L Peter Deutsch was between 12 and 15 when he wrote PDP-1 Lisp at MIT. 1958 onwards. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L_Peter_Deutsch http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L_Peter_Deutsch http://www.codersatwork.com/l-peter-deutsch.html http://www.codersatwork.com/l-peter-deutsch.html