Tagged articles

Ken Thompson

6 articles · Page 1 of 1

Sep 19, 2026 · Fundamentals

Why Linux Has /bin and /usr/bin: A 1971 1.5MB Disk Crisis

The split between /bin and /usr/bin originated in 1971 when Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie ran out of space on a 1.5MB PDP-11 disk, prompting them to spill overflow commands onto a second disk mounted at /usr—a pragmatic hack later mythologized as intentional design, causing decades of confusion until modern distributions merged them via usrmerge.

Dennis RitchieKen ThompsonLinux

0 likes · 7 min read

Why Linux Has /bin and /usr/bin: A 1971 1.5MB Disk Crisis

ITPUB

Aug 10, 2026 · Fundamentals

Did grep Really Come Together in One Night? The True Origin of Its Name

The article recounts how the iconic Unix grep command was born in the early 1970s, tracing its roots from the ed editor, a linguist's need to analyze the Federalist Papers, and the clever reuse of existing code that led to the name derived from an ed command.

Ken ThompsonUnixcommand-line tools

0 likes · 5 min read

Did grep Really Come Together in One Night? The True Origin of Its Name

macrozheng

Aug 14, 2022 · Fundamentals

How Ken Thompson’s Journey Shaped UNIX, C, and Go – The Untold Story

Ken Thompson, the Turing‑award‑winning computer pioneer, co‑created UNIX, contributed to the Multics project, helped develop the C language, and later co‑designed Go at Google, with a life story that blends groundbreaking OS design, hacker culture, and a passion for aviation.

C languageGoKen Thompson

0 likes · 12 min read

How Ken Thompson’s Journey Shaped UNIX, C, and Go – The Untold Story

21CTO

May 26, 2021 · Fundamentals

How Ken Thompson’s Playful Hacks Forged UNIX, C, and Go

Ken Thompson, a Turing Award laureate, transformed computing by pioneering generic operating system theory, co‑creating UNIX after a failed Multics project, inventing the C language, and later shaping Google’s Go language, all while embodying the hacker spirit of curiosity and fun.

C languageGoKen Thompson

0 likes · 11 min read

How Ken Thompson’s Playful Hacks Forged UNIX, C, and Go

21CTO

Apr 30, 2021 · Fundamentals

How Ken Thompson’s Quest for Fun Shaped UNIX, C, and Go

Ken Thompson’s remarkable journey—from early fascination with binary numbers, through winning the Turing Award, building UNIX at Bell Labs, influencing the creation of C, co‑designing Go at Google, and even piloting a MiG‑29—illustrates how curiosity and playfulness can drive lasting innovations in computer science.

C languageGoKen Thompson

0 likes · 12 min read

How Ken Thompson’s Quest for Fun Shaped UNIX, C, and Go

21CTO

Oct 13, 2019 · Information Security

How Ken Thompson’s Vintage Unix Password Was Finally Cracked

Leah Neukirchen uncovered historic Unix passwords, cracked many using John the Ripper and hashcat, and after months of effort Nigel Williams finally revealed Ken Thompson’s long‑uncracked password, which turns out to be a clever chess‑notation hint.

Ken ThompsonUnixcrypt

0 likes · 4 min read

How Ken Thompson’s Vintage Unix Password Was Finally Cracked