Big 3 Computer Fathers

In the past, I have taken issue with a focus on "The Fathers of the Internet" given the significant contributions of Radia Perlman. But there is not always a mother in the picture, and that's okay. Fathers are wonderful (thank you fathers)!

There are 3 Big Computer Fathers that every Canadian should know, whether you're into computers or not. If you're an IT person, you should definitely know about these men: without their pioneering efforts, we might not have computing as we know it!

Brian Kernighan: This one I better know! Mr. Kernighan is one of the co-creators of Unix (alongside Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie). In fact, he coined the term "Unix" based on Thompson's philosophy. He also helped to create the AWK programming language in 1977! Fun fact: Mr. Kernighan has stated that if he was ever stranded on an island with one programming language, it would have to be C.

James Gosling: Have you ever used the Java programming language? Have you heard of it? We have Canadian James Arthur Gosling to thank for it (and we hear that he's going strong at 68 years old)! Fun fact: Mr. Gosling has a daughter named Katie.

Theo de Raadt: A Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) legend, Mr. de Raadt is the founder of the OpenBSD project: a BSD flavour that puts emphasis on security, thanks to features like KARL (Kernel Address Randomized Link). He is also the founder of OpenSSH, and his brilliance in security should not be underestimated. Fun fact: He was also a founding member of NetBSD!