Linus Torvalds is certainly an inspiring, vastly successful programmer, but I wouldn't go so far as to say he's the greatest programmer in history, even if Linux has become as prominent as it is.Torvalds went to college at the University of Helsinki and got his Master's degree in computer science. He began creating Linux in 1991, while he was still in college.
One thing's for sure: this guy took a huge natural interest in programming.pretty early on if he was able to start an entire operating system in the middle of college! It wasn't just a little, personal tool like he probably thought it would be, either. It turned out to become commonly used by a variety of people, businesses, corporations, and a bunch more. Look at this link; it's crazy: http://www.comparebusinessproducts.com/fyi/50-places-linux-running-you-might-not-expect
But, here's the thing: it's not the only operating system in the world. Not every PC has to use Linux. Not every organization has to incorporate it into what they use. There are other operating systems. There were other operating systems in existence when Torvalds made Linux. He was able to experiment before creating his own. Furthermore, there are other things that just about every PC needs, like the Internet for example. So, if anything, I'd say the greatest programmer might be the first person to have even thought of an operating system, or the person who created the internet, Vint Cerf, simply because almost every computer has these things. The internet is so widely used today, most people are dependent on it. And every PC has an OS, but the first people to make one had nothing to go off of besides the horrible mainframes of the 1950s, and started pretty much this whole entire generation from scratch. Now that's impressive. Unfortunately, so many people contributed to this, that I cannot name a single person without deep research.
Torvalds was actually frustrated when the MINIX operating system became licensed, because he couldn't mess with it anymore. That was a reason he decided not only to make his own, but also to make it open-source. That's what makes Linux unique. That means no one person or corporation dominates it and everything it does; everyone that uses it can modify it to their liking, provided they have a certain licence. An OS like Windows or Mac isn't supposed to be modified or changed, but Linux has had thousands of different contributors. It could potentially evolve into the ultimate OS used by every computer, given how quickly it jumped from being Torvalds' own personal tool to being as widely used as it is today. But, it wouldn't necessarily be due to the work of Torvalds, but rather the contributors to Linux that would make it the ultimate OS.
It's understandable that Torvalds is so widely regarded, but not everyone thinks about what goes on inside an OS, which is probably why Linus Torvalds isn't a household name, like Bill Gates or Steve Jobs. Most people get curious eventually and might Google "who created the internet", or "who made Microsoft Word", but without much prior knowledge or interest in computers, not as many people make it to wondering who created Linux, a specific OS. That's why I can't consider Linus Torvals the greatest programmer of all time, though he is up there.
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First of all i like how you mentioned that it is unique because of it is open source. i think thats a huge part of linux and thats what makes it different from windows. i also enjoyed the last paragraph because if your not into computer programming than you probably don't know Linus Torvald's but you might know steve jobs or bill gates. Great post, I really enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the positive feedback. And for having the attention span to read the whole thing. Many of the posts mention all of the same things, because we were all required to mention them, so I am glad that someone appreciated the unique point I tried to throw in.
DeleteI'm also glad that someone actually noticed this since I was pretty late in putting my URL up.