Introduction
HedesignedtheClanguagewithDennisRich,andheisalsotheco-authoroftheprogramminglanguageGo.
Biography
ThompsonwasborninNewOrleansin1943.In1960,hestudiedattheUniversityofCalifornia,Berkeley,majoringinelectricalengineering,andobtainedamaster'sdegreeinelectricalengineering.JoinedBellLaboratoriesin1966.Thompsonparticipatedinamulti-usertime-sharingoperatingsystemjointlydevelopedbyBellLabs,MassachusettsInstituteofTechnologyandGeneralElectricCompany,calledMultics.Atthesametime,hewrotea"startravel"gamethatcanbeexecutedonMultics..BellLabslaterwithdrewfromtheMulticsprogram.ThompsonhadtofindanoldPDP-7machineandrewrotehis"startravel"game.
DuringthedevelopmentofMultics,ThompsoncreatedaprogramminglanguagecalledBon.Thompsonspentamonthdevelopinganewoperatingsystem,UNiplexedInformationandComputingSystem(UNICS),executableonthePDP-7machine,andlaterrenamedUNIX.ThefirstversionofUnixwasdevelopedbasedontheBlanguage.TheBonlanguageisnotpowerfulenoughforsystemprogramming,soThompsonandRitchiemodifieditandinventedtheClanguagetogetherin1971.In1973,ThompsonandRitchierewroteUNIXinC.InstalledonthePDP-11machine.
In1983,theAmericanComputerAssociationawardedtheTuringAwardtoThompsonandDennis.
InDecember2000,ThompsonretiredandleftBellLabstobecomeapilot.
In2006,ThompsonjoinedGoogletoworkwithRobertParkerandRobertGrismotoleadthedevelopmentoftheGolanguage.