“A year after his death, the programming community still
treasures the influence of Rich Stevens.”
“When Andrew Hume presented the Usenix Lifetime Achievement
Award in San Diego in June, he managed to say exactly two words —
“Richard Stevens” — before a standing ovation drowned him
out. “I sat next to Richard’s family at the presentation,”
says Tom Christiansen, a well-known figure in the Perl programming
community who had known Stevens on and off for years. “It was
stunning. I don’t know if his family did, but I sure noticed a lot
of the audience in tears….”
“His death hit the close-knit Unix community hard. Fiercely
intelligent and deeply private, Stevens set an example for everyone
in the Unix world. What he didn’t know, he determined to find out;
what he did know, he strove to pass on to anyone who was
interested. A year after his death, memories of one of the Unix
community’s most beloved experts are still fresh and vital.”