6 ms·

Ken Thompson on GitHub

29 points by pknerd 12y ago

joshbaptiste 12y ago
Cool and he actually got "ken" as his username. Github must have been saving that username, unfortunately "https://github.com/rob/" https://github.com/rob/" is already taken.
- jonstewart 12y ago
  One wonders whether Github reserved it, or whether the entire global community of developers knows better than to choose "ken" as a username.
DAddYE 12y ago
Nice! I'd like to know too how was possible that "ken" was not taken.
- takaroa 12y ago
  It was already taken by someone else. http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:rhIBqhutq54J:https://github.com/Ken+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:rhIBqhu... Github seems to have moved their user account to https://github.com/ken-zz https://github.com/ken-zz
  - StevePerkins 12y ago
    Ken Thompson could have my Social Security Number if he wanted it.
    - vanderZwan 12y ago
      Is that a reference to this? http://cm.bell-labs.com/who/ken/trust.html http://cm.bell-labs.com/who/ken/trust.html
  - Artemis2 12y ago
    When you have created the very basis for all commercial and scientific modern computing, you just deserve your damn vanity username.
jamieomatthews 12y ago
I'm assuming this is because Go was migrated to Github?
AdmiralAsshat 12y ago
And he hasn't made a single commit yet, the bum!
- callahad 12y ago
  And now that GitHub has replaced resumes... poor Ken. :(
mkramlich 12y ago
"ken doesn't have any popular repositories" you just know that somewhere there will be teen/20-something hotshit brogrammer startup CEO/CTO types who will refuse to look at his resume, go first to his GitHub, be totally unimpressed ("lame! just a talker, not a real hacker, etc") then skip over him.
- Kenji 12y ago
  Don't be ageist.
  - mkramlich 12y ago
    I'm not. I'm being observation-of-reality-and-making-humorous-reflections-thereof-ist. :-) Nowhere did I say all teen/20-somethings were hotshit brogrammers. There is however a subtype out there in the real world and both I and others have encountered them repeatedly. They are unpleasant and blindered, to everyone's detriment.
  - srean 12y ago
    Those scenarios are far from implausible. Comments on HN in the tune of, "Lamport is so lame I can knock out a better markup language that runs on Node in 15 minutes. Did he do anything else" are not hard to find. Then there would be those that go the other way, "Paxos may be nice and all for ivory towers LOL but can he write a line of code." The other target is Dijkstra, "Dijkstra is an ass, did he do anything else other than that stupid algorithm that I could have come up with in my sleep. Proof of correctness is all fine and dandy, can he code ?" These are not actual quotes of course but grounded enough in reality. As they say ignorance is bliss, or at least enough shelter from the irony of it.
- unclesaamm 12y ago
  I wonder what recruiting emails to ken look like
  - mkramlich 12y ago
    "Do you have at least 20 years of C experience?" "Uh... actually, yes!"
thefox 12y ago
Where is the proof that this is really Ken Thompson?
- joshbaptiste 12y ago
  Tweet from Brad Fitzpatrick (of memcached fame) on the Golang team: https://twitter.com/bradfitz/status/537699677596966912 https://twitter.com/bradfitz/status/537699677596966912
  - thefox 12y ago
    But only one Tweet isn't really a proof.

29 points by pknerd 12y ago

Cool and he actually got "ken" as his username. Github must have been saving that username, unfortunately "https://github.com/rob/" https://github.com/rob/" is already taken.

jonstewart 12y ago
One wonders whether Github reserved it, or whether the entire global community of developers knows better than to choose "ken" as a username.

DAddYE 12y ago

Nice! I'd like to know too how was possible that "ken" was not taken.

takaroa 12y ago
It was already taken by someone else. http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:rhIBqhutq54J:https://github.com/Ken+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:rhIBqhu... Github seems to have moved their user account to https://github.com/ken-zz https://github.com/ken-zz
- StevePerkins 12y ago
  Ken Thompson could have my Social Security Number if he wanted it.
  - vanderZwan 12y ago
    Is that a reference to this? http://cm.bell-labs.com/who/ken/trust.html http://cm.bell-labs.com/who/ken/trust.html
- Artemis2 12y ago
  When you have created the very basis for all commercial and scientific modern computing, you just deserve your damn vanity username.

jamieomatthews 12y ago

I'm assuming this is because Go was migrated to Github?

AdmiralAsshat 12y ago

And he hasn't made a single commit yet, the bum!

callahad 12y ago
And now that GitHub has replaced resumes... poor Ken. :(

mkramlich 12y ago

"ken doesn't have any popular repositories" you just know that somewhere there will be teen/20-something hotshit brogrammer startup CEO/CTO types who will refuse to look at his resume, go first to his GitHub, be totally unimpressed ("lame! just a talker, not a real hacker, etc") then skip over him.

Kenji 12y ago
Don't be ageist.
- mkramlich 12y ago
  I'm not. I'm being observation-of-reality-and-making-humorous-reflections-thereof-ist. :-) Nowhere did I say all teen/20-somethings were hotshit brogrammers. There is however a subtype out there in the real world and both I and others have encountered them repeatedly. They are unpleasant and blindered, to everyone's detriment.
- srean 12y ago
  Those scenarios are far from implausible. Comments on HN in the tune of, "Lamport is so lame I can knock out a better markup language that runs on Node in 15 minutes. Did he do anything else" are not hard to find. Then there would be those that go the other way, "Paxos may be nice and all for ivory towers LOL but can he write a line of code." The other target is Dijkstra, "Dijkstra is an ass, did he do anything else other than that stupid algorithm that I could have come up with in my sleep. Proof of correctness is all fine and dandy, can he code ?" These are not actual quotes of course but grounded enough in reality. As they say ignorance is bliss, or at least enough shelter from the irony of it.
unclesaamm 12y ago
I wonder what recruiting emails to ken look like
- mkramlich 12y ago
  "Do you have at least 20 years of C experience?" "Uh... actually, yes!"

thefox 12y ago

Where is the proof that this is really Ken Thompson?

joshbaptiste 12y ago
Tweet from Brad Fitzpatrick (of memcached fame) on the Golang team: https://twitter.com/bradfitz/status/537699677596966912 https://twitter.com/bradfitz/status/537699677596966912
- thefox 12y ago
  But only one Tweet isn't really a proof.